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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
An injury to Daniel Straus has shortened the Title fight waiting period for season seven featherweight tournament winner Shabulat Shamhalaev, as Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney announced on Wednesday that he'll step in against Pat Curran on April 4.
Curran and Straus were set to square off on that Bellator 95 card in Atlantic City, but a broken hand forced Straus out of the fight on Tuesday.
Shamhalaev earned his shot at the Title just last week, knocking out Rad Martinez on Spike TV. That bout was supposed to take place last fall, but was canceled last minute with Shabulaev ill backstage. The commission wouldn't allow him to continue that night, leading to the fight being rescheduled.
He'll now get his shot at Curran, who successfully defended the belt in January in the first Bellator fight ever on Spike TV. In that five round battle, Curran defeated Patricio "Pitbull" Freire by decision.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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