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

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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.