(“Yes, I want to be a f*cking fighter.” PicProps MMAMania)
Bellator Fighting Championships announced today that on June 18 it will be holding open tryouts for undiscovered professional fighters who want to earn a slot on one of the Chicago, Illinois-based promotions’s future cards.
The tryouts will take place at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida on Saturday, June 18th. Registration begins at 1:00 p.m.ET and tryouts begin at 2:00 p.m. ET.
According to the release, Bellator is planning on putting fighters who make it through the tryouts on its future local regional cards starting with Bellator 50, which takes place on September 17 at the same venue as the tryouts. Extra consideration will be given to Florida-based fighters for that card. Non-Florida-based fighters are still encouraged to try out and will be scouted for other potential future roster openings.
“The Seminole Hard Rock has been like a second home to Bellator,” said Bellator Chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney. “We’ve had tremendous success with our open tryouts in the past, actually leading to a fighter securing a spot in a nationally televised Bellator Tournament. I expect another group of great fighters will be at the tryout June 18th in Hollywood.”
Casting calls like this are nothing new for Bellator. The promotion’s open tryouts have netted several fighters contracts, including Kenny Foster, Tyler Stinson, Anthony Lapsley, Anthony Leone, Jose Vega, John Orr and Jared Downing.
Fighters interested in attending the tryout (which will include grappling and focus pad work, but no live sparring) must bring MMA gloves, boxing gloves, an athletic protector and a mouthpiece. The tryouts are only open to professional fighters and they must be prepared to present their MixedMartialArts.com ID. Fighters must also be an unrestricted free agent and cannot have any contractual obligations to another mixed martial arts promotion.