Bellator Season Six Middleweight Quarterfinals Scheduled

The four quarterfinal match-ups for Bellator Fighting Championships' Season Six middleweight tournament have been set, according to reports from Sherdog.com.

Vitor Vianna vs. Brian Rogers, Giva Santana vs. Bruno Santos, Victor O'Donnell vs. Vyacheslav Vasilevsky, and Maiquel Falcao vs. Norman Paraisy are expected to highlight the opening round.

Bellator officials have yet to confirm the pairings or set a date for the tournament to kick off.

Last season's runner-up, the 32-year-old Vianna (12-2-1) hopes to rebound from a heart-breaking decision loss to Alexander Shlemenko, which snapped a five-fight streak that included tourney wins over Sam Alvey and Bryan Baker. He'll meet fellow Shlemenko victim Rogers (8-3), who looks to get back on track after ripping through seven straight first-round knockout victories before falling to the Russian.

Reverently nicknamed "The Arm Collector," Santana (17-1) storms into the field fresh from defeating Darryl Cobb via armbar in his Bellator debut to notch his 13th victory by the trademark submission. Meanwhile, the unbeaten Santos (12-0) makes his first appearance of the year after blazing through four victories in 2011.

Team Vision product O'Donnell (11-3) returns to action for the first time since suffering a disappointing first-round TKO loss to Rogers in Season Five's quarterfinals. He'll take on former M-1 light heavyweight champion Vasilevsky (15-1), who strides into the tournament on a 14-fight winning streak, having not tasted defeat since 2008.

A UFC veteran and winner of ten of his last 11 contests, Falcao (28-4) makes his Bellator debut after knocking out Douglas del Rio in just 65 seconds in October. Across the cage, 25-year-old Frenchman Paraisy (10-1-1) is unbeaten in six fights since receiving his Bellator pink slip in mid-2009, including a decision win over former WEC champion Paulo Filho.

The winner of Season Six's middleweight tournament receives a $100,000 grand prize and guaranteed title shot against the Bellator middleweight champion.