Bellator: Breaking Down the Season 6 Middleweight Tournament

Bellator Fighting Championships comes to your TV on March 16 via Epix in HD and MTV2 and features two specific attractions.

The first of the two attractions is a rematch of Bellator's Season Five Heavyweight Tournament Final with "The American Soldier" Eric Prindle facing "Big Monster" Thiago Santos in the headlining feature.

Co-headlining the card—as well as filling it out—is the Bellator Season Six Middleweight tournament, which will feature Maiquel Falcao vs. Norman Paraisy, Brian "The Predator" Rogers vs. Vitor Vianna, a still-scheduled bout of Victor O'Donnell and Vyachislav Vasilevsky and undefeated Bruno Santos vs. "The Arm Collector" Giva Santana.

How does the Bellator Season Six Middleweight tournament break down and play out?

It goes a little something like this...

Maiquel Falcao Defeats Norman Paraisy by Knockout

Norman Paraisy shouldn't stand with Maiquel Falcao, but he probably will anyway.

What Paraisy, a TUF 11 hopeful and French MMA prospect, needs to do in this fight is expose an inability to work off the back, but it's doubtful that Falcao will allow Paraisy to take the fight there.

Falcao knows he has to hurt Paraisy on the feet, and as a man who has 23 wins by KO, he knows a thing or two about how to properly set up his kill-shots.

As promising a prospect as Paraisy might be, he will find himself broken down and defeated if he cannot take Falcao down on his own accord, and once broken down, Falcao will advance to the semifinals of the tournament.

Winner: Maiquel Falcao by R1 KO (Punch).

Giva Santana Submits Bruno Santos

Giva Santana is one of the favorites of the Bellator Season 6 tournament because of his submission expertise and his ability to end fights quick with his arsenal, specifically the armbar.

In Santana, the undefeated Bruno Santos faces a fighter with 15 submission wins, with only two wins by way of something other than an armbar, and 13 wins by way of the armbar, with 12 of those armbar victories coming in the first round.

Meanwhile, Santos is bringing in not only an undefeated record of 12 victories, but he's also bringing in nine straight victories by unanimous decision.

His streak of winning fights unanimously won't end against Santana, but his streak of not ever being beaten will, as the prospect will leave an opening for Santana to submit him, but Santana can rest easy because it won't come as early as some may think.

It'll come the way Santana knows how to get it, but it won't come easy.

Winner: Giva Santana by R2 Armbar

Vyacheslav Vasilevsky Wins a Split Decision over Victor O'Donnell

"The Crushin' Russian" Vyacheslav Vasilvesky is a Russian MMA Middleweight prospect who has been at the core of a promotional tug-of-war between Bellator and M-1 Global, the latter of whom claim that Vasilevsky has an active contract with them.

If that is not the case or if that is no longer the case, Vasilevsky will face Victor O'Donnell, who was briefly a part of The Ultimate Fighter 11 and appeared in last season's Middleweight tournament quarterfinals.

O'Donnell is well-rounded in the sport, and the only real knock on his offense comes from those who believe that he still needs to tighten up his striking game just a little bit more.

Vasilevsky is a fighter from a Sambo background who is developing into his own as a striker and carries some sound grappling skills.

If O'Donnell gets taken down or knocked down, expect him to remain calm on the ground and demonstrate an active game from his back against a persistent Vasilevsky, and don't be surprised if one of the judges sees O'Donnell winning the fight, but expect the difference in the fight to be the active top game of Vasilevsky, who will walk out with a close win, but a hardly-debatable win nonetheless.

Winner: Vyacheslav Vasilevsky by Split Decision (29-28, 30-27, 28-29)

Vitor Vianna Tests Brian Rogers, but Rogers Shocks Vianna for the Upset

Everyone has that one fight on a card in which they honestly like both fighters and just care more about a good fight than who wins.

For my money's worth, or at least for what it's worth to get MTV2 on Verizon Fios, this is one of those fights.

Vitor Vianna is known for being highly decorated as a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner, but his TKO finish of Bryan Baker stood out as much as any performance in last season's Middleweight tournament.

He gets matched up with Brian Rogers, who is also a veteran of last season's Middleweight tournament, having been defeated by Alexander Shlemenko in the semifinals.

Actually, both men owe their last loss to Shlemenko, but they are still among two of Bellator's hardest-hitting Middleweights on the rise.

Vianna is good and should show improvements to his game during this bout, but if there were to be a dark horse in this tournament, Rogers would be that, and the kickboxer and freestyle wrestling star may be more of a handful than some might believe.

Winner: Brian Rogers via R1 TKO (Punches)

The Semi Finals: Giva Santana vs. Brian Rogers

This one is going to be tough, considering the strengths of both fighters and everything they can do in the cage, but the big question is whether a lack of striking can be exposed in Santana.

If Rogers can, he'll make some great progress in his mission to win his shot at the Bellator Middleweight Championship, but against a guy who can set up his moments to grapple in the fashion that Santana can, it'll prove a feat and a half to accomplish.

Never count out the kickboxer, whose wrestling could exploit holes in Santana's ground game, but don't hold your breath on the kid pulling out the win over a submission guru like Santana, and if the submission does come, let's not bank on it being his signature hold this time out.

Winner: Giva Santana by R3 Technical Submission (Guillotine Choke)

The Semi Finals: Maiquel Falcao vs. Vyacheslav Vasilevsky

I'm calling it now: if Falcao and Vasilevsky make the semi-finals, their fight will be the best fight of the tournament.

There is a lot of potential for success in Vasilevsky, who is still a prospect in his career right now, and the wide belief is that Falcao might rip through the competition if neither Santana nor Vianna is able to in this tournament.

Vasilevsky will prove a daunting task for Falcao, and he will push Falcao like he's never been pushed before, but Falcao has been pushed before, and he can definitely push back.

Both men will get hurt, and both will plead a convincing case towards a win, but if one man will take the win, it'll be Falcao who wins the fight in a bout that might actually see some dispute the final call.

Don't sleep on Vasilevsky though, because like we said before, this kid is a Middleweight prospect with sound grappling skills and he is developing as a striker.

If he can drop Falcao and finish him, or if he can just get some sort of undisputed victory over Falcao, it'll mark quite possibly the upset of the tournament.

Winner: Maiquel Falcao by Majority Decision (29-28 x2, 29-29 )

The Winner of the Final: Maiquel Falcao (KO, Late R1)

How do I reach a knockout of Giva Santana in the finals?

Simple: takedown defense and a well-timed knee.

Getting in close is where Falcao does some of his most alarming damage, and for Santana, who excels in grappling, that could be a big problem unless Santana can mount serious pressure on Falcao.

That's where there's another problem though, because in just about every Falcao fight, Falcao pressures opponents, hits them with the intention of rupturing organs, and goes in for the kill once he lands a shot that figuratively pulverizes their inner anatomy.

As much as I like Santana, and I do like his odds of finishing Falcao regardless of how it happens, it's just not going to be a great night for him one he deals with Falcao's hard-handed blitzkrieg.

As for Hector Lombard or Alexander Shlemenko...Falcao's getting tested on the feet either way.