Bellator MMA cuts 19 fighters including Lima, Prindle, and Leone

Bellator MMA, which fired Bjorn Rebney just last week, has also said goodbye to 19 fighters under contract for the Viacom-owned mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion, including former title challengers Eric Prindle (heavyweight) and Anthony Leone (bantamweight).

Here is the complete list of releases (via MMA Fighting):

Eric Prindle
Anthony Leone
Rodrigo Lima
Frank Baca
Nick Kirk
Travis Marx
Hiroshi Nakamura
Sergej Grecicho
Jared Downing
Jason Fischer
Tim Welch
Nathan Coy
Anthony Lemon
Trey Houston
Vaughn Anderson
Keith Berry
Jeremy Kimball
Carlos Eduardo
Eric Smith

Perhaps getting out of a Bellator contract isn't such a bad thing?

The promotion is under construction after hiring former Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker, who is expected to oversee day-to-day operations for the gang at Spike TV. His first order of business is to dump the tournament format and create big fights by way of big stars.

And from the looks of it, he now has some room on the roster to actually do it. Stay tuned for more changes to the Bellator MMA line up in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, see any names that might be a good fit somewhere else?