Bellator 90 took place on Thursday night at the Maverik Center in Utah and Shahbulat Shamhalaev defeated Utah’s own Rad Martinez by TKO in the main event to win the season seven featherweight tournament.
The fight opened with Shamhalaev able to control the fight on the feet and Martinez would get a takedown late in the first round. He was unable to capitalize on the position and the fight would head to the second round.
In the second round, Shamhalaev would be able to keep the fight on the feet and began to land his strikes. He would stun Martinez and he went in for the finish. After a series of strikes, referee Jason Herzog would come in to stop the fight.
Shamhalaev (12-1-1) wins $100,000 and a guaranteed title shot in the featherweight division. The current champion Pat Curran is already scheduled for his next title defense, which will take place on April 4th in Atlantic City against Daniel Straus.
Newton and Zayats advance to light heavyweight tourney final
During yesterday’s weigh-in’s, Emanuel Newton said he was going to shock the world and thats what he did on Thursday night as he knocked out Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal in the first round. Newton landed a spinning back fist that connected on the chin of Lawal and the referee immediately came in to call the fight.
In the other semifinal bout, Mikhail Zayats also won by stoppage as he defeated Jacob Noe by submission in the first round. Zayats dropped Noe early in the round and worked his ground game. After landing punches on the ground, he would transition to attempt an arm bar which would end the fight.
Newton and Zayats will now meet each other in the light heavyweight tournament final and Bellator has not announced when the tournament final will take place.
Lima and Saunders will once again meet in welterweight final
The fight card also saw both of the semifinal bouts in the welterweight tournament and the final is set as Ben Saunders defeated Raul Amaya and Douglas Lima defeated Bryan Baker.
Saunders landed a head kick that finished Amaya in the first round and Lima landed his right hand that dropped Baker and the referee immediately came in to stop the fight.
Their tournament final will take place on March 21st at Bellator 92 in Maine and it will be a rematch of their season five tournament final, which Lima won by knockout. The winner of the fight will win $100,000 and a guaranteed title shot.
The full Bellator 90 results are below:
Main Card: (Spike TV)
Shahbulat Shamhalaev def. Rad Martinez via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 2:12
Emanuel Newton def. Muhammed Lawal via KO (spinning back fist) – Round 1, 2:35
Douglas Lima def. Bryan Baker via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 2:34
Mikhail Zayats def. Jacob Noe via submission (armbar) – Round 1, 3:38
Preliminary Card: (Spike.com)
Ben Saunders def. Raul Amaya via knockout (head kick) – Round 1, 2:56
Travis Marx def. Chases Beebe via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Jesse Juarez def. Jordan Smith via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 30-27)
Sean Powers def. David Allred via submission (RNC) – Round 3, 2:10
Lionel Lanham def. Joe Rodriguez via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, :49