By FCF Staff

Rad Martinez will face Shabulat Shamhalaev on February 21st to determine who will win Bellator’s latest featherweight tourney and entrench a championship bout. The tourney finale will be hosted by Salt Lake City’s Maverik Center and will be broadcast live on SPIKE.

Martinez (14-2) has scored unanimous decision wins over Nazareno Malegarie and Wagnney Fabiano to make his way to the tournament championship. The 25 year-old Utah fighter is currently riding a five fight win streak.

“To have the opportunity to fight in Salt Lake City for the Bellator Featherweight Tournament Championship is just a dream come true,” Martinez said in a press release from the promotion. “Utah has a great base of MMA fans, but we’ve never had a big MMA promotion come to Salt Lake City, so it’s a great honor to be headlining Utah’s first large scale MMA event.”

Shamhalaev (11-1), on the other hand, is coming off first round, stoppage wins over Mike Richman and Cody Bollinger. The 29 year-old Russian fighter is undefeated in ten bouts.

“Shamhalaev is incredibly quick and versatile, and brings a lot of things to the table, so I know I have my work cut out for me,” Martinez said. “Fans know that any time I step into the cage you can expect a war, and nothing will change for this fight.”

The February 21st event will also feature the semifinals of Bellator’s next light-heavyweight tourney, which will feature established vets like Seth Petruzelli, “King Mo” Lawal and Renato “Babalu” Sobral.