· Featured Fights: Ueda Ready For Bellator Tournament; A Look At Victory Over Dantas

Masakatsu Ueda’s run in the Bellator season six bantamweight tournament status is now official after taking a majority decision against Kyoji Horiguchi in a thrilling bout over the weekend. After a long, successful career in Shooto’s 132-pound division, Ueda makes his way stateside, the proud owner of a 15-1-2 record.

Among the Paraestra Tokyo product’s list of notable wins is Bellator season five tournament winner and number one contender to Zach Makovsky’s crown, Eduardo “Dudu” Dantas. Last season, the Nova Uniao product ran roughshod through the tournament, breaking the will of Wilson Reis, taking a competitive decision over Ed West, and dominating former Olympic wrestler Alexis Vila in the grappling and striking department.

Ueda and Dantas met at "Shooto - Revolutionary Exchanges 1: Undefeated" in July of 2009. While Dudu had a clear Muay Thai advantage, Ueda was able to use his reach to connect on the Brazilian. While the Japanese champion had some issues with the grappling of the Nova Uniao prodigy in the second, he was able to rectify the situation in the third stanza and use his superior wrestling to his advantage. In the end, the judges rendered a unanimous decision victory for the defending champion.

Ueda presents an interesting challenge to his opponents in the tournament, representing a unique contingent of the bantamweight community that has been competing at the highest levels for an extended period of time. His abilities as a wrestler bode well for him stateside, as does his ability to use his range. Ueda will surely come stateside looking to add the Bellator bantamweight title to his mantle.