Bellator adds Californian Bao Quach to featherweight tournament

by MMAjunkie.com Staff on Jan 15, 2010 at 10:00 am ET

With Bellator Fighting Championships set to return to action in April, the organization today announced its latest addition. Strikeforce, WEC, Affliction, Shooto and King of the Cage veteran Bao Quach (17-9-1) will compete in Bellator's season two featherweight tournament. Quach joins Patricio "Pitbull" Freire (12-0), Georgi "Insane" Karakhanyan (12-1-1) and William Romero (5-0) as confirmed participants in the promotion's second-ever 145-pound tournament. Quach enters the tournament with a streak of 11 wins in his past 12 bouts. The lone loss during that span came via unanimous decision in an exciting matchup with L.C. Davis at the January 2009 event "Affliction: Day of Reckoning." "During the last three years, Bao has established himself as a fighter with devastating world-class striking abilities," Bellator founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney stated in the official release. "The level of his striking and kickboxing is at the highest level in MMA. "With Bao, Georgi, 'Pitbull' and Will, 145 should be a spectacular tournament." Quach, whose parents were born in Vietnam and who now lives in California, opened his career at just 6-8-1 before going on his current impressive run. Despite the less-than-spectacular start, Quach gained valuable experience while facing such proven fighters as Rich Crunkilton, Jeff Curran, Cole Escovedo, Wagnney Fabiano, Hatsu Hioki and Rumina Sato. "In some ways, Bao's career path reminds me of Toby Imada's" Rebney stated. "Once he really started to take the sport seriously, the results began to speak for themselves. If he maintains this level of focus, he could be very hard to beat at 145." Bellator's lucrative tournaments can earn each division's winner nearly $200,000 over three fights and three months. If he wins the tourney, Quach earns the right to fight season-one winner and current Bellator featherweight champion Joe Soto. In addition to live shows on FSN, Bellator season-two and season-three programming also airs via highlights packages on NBC and Telemundo.