Bellator 83 in Atlantic City Gets Martinez-Shamhalaev Featherweight Tournament Final

Bellator Fighting Championships’ Season 7 featherweight tournament will come to a close Dec. 7 when finalists Rad Martinez and Shahbulat Shamhalaev square off at Bellator 83.

Sherdog.com confirmed the booking Monday with a source close to the event, which will air live on MTV2 and Spike.com from Caesars Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, N.J. The main card will also feature women’s champ Zoila Gurgel in a non-title affair against Jessica Eye, while former bantamweight titlist Zach Makovsky takes on Anthony Leone.

Martinez looks to improve on a perfect 4-0 Bellator record after the biggest win of his career, a Nov. 9 unanimous decision against WEC vet Wagnney Fabiano. The 25-year-old wrestler, who signed with the promotion last year after appearing on ESPN’s “Outside the Lines,” punched his ticket to that semifinal matchup with an Oct. 12 outpointing of Nazareno Malegarie.

Shamhalaev has put in considerably less work during his tournament run, taking out two opponents in a combined 6:34. After halting Cody Bollinger toward the end of the opening round in their quarterfinal, the Russian import made his way to the final by stopping favored American Mike Richman in less than two minutes on Nov. 2.

Undercard bouts confirmed for the event include Chris Liguori vs. Darrell Horcher at lightweight, Brylan Van Artsdalen vs. Terrell Hobbs at featherweight and Matt Lozano vs. Tuan Pham at flyweight.

http://www.sherdog.com/news/news/Bellator-83-in-Atlantic-City-Gets-MartinezShamhalaev-Featherweight-Tournament-Final-47315

Tourney finals flip-flop with lightweights headed to Bellator 84, featherweights to Bellator 83

A pair of previously announced dates for Bellator tournament finals has been flip-flopped.

The promotion had planned to hold its Season 7 featherweight tournament final at its season-ending event, Bellator 84. The Season 7 lightweight tournament final was booked for Bellator 83. But now those two fights will change places.

Sources close to the promotion on Monday confirmed the switch with MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com).

Bellator 84 takes place Dec. 14 in Hammond, Ind., and will be the promotion's second visit this season to The Venue at Horseshoe Casino. Bellator 83 takes place one week prior on Dec. 7 in New Jersey at Caesars Atlantic City.

Rad Martinez and Shahbulat Shamhalaev are set to meet in the featherweight tournament final after their semifinal wins at Bellator 80 and Bellator 79, respectively. Now they will meet at Bellator 83 with the $100,000 prize on the line and an eventual shot at the 145-pound title.

The heavyweight tournament final between Richard Hale and Alexander Volkov is expected to remain on the Bellator 84 card in Hammond.

On Friday, the Season 7 155-pound tournament will be pared down from four to two when Rich Clementi and Marcin Held meet, plus Dave Jansen and Ricardo Tirloni in the semifinals at Bellator 81. The winners of those two fights now will meet at Bellator 84, which gives them four weeks to prepare instead of three.

Both Bellator 83 and Bellator 84 will have main cards that air live on MTV2 following prelims on Spike.com. Bellator 84 closes out the promotion's seventh season and will be the final event on MTV2 before a move to Spike TV takes place in January.

Additional bouts for both cards are expected to be announced soon.

http://mmajunkie.com/news/31583/tourney-finals-flip-flop-with-lightweights-headed-to-bellator-84-featherweights-to-bellator-83.mma