Shahbulat Shamhalaev Withdraws from Bellator Tournament to Care for Ailing Father

Shahbulat Shamhalaev has withdrawn from Bellator’s Season 9 Featherweight Tournament. The Russian native has returned to Dagestan to attend to his ailing father.

Bellator newcomer Justin Wilcox will replace Shamhalaev and will face Akop Stepanyan in the Bellator Featherweight Tournament Opening Round at Friday’s Bellator 99 live on Spike TV.

The first fight of the night will begin at 4:30 p.m. PST and the LIVE national television broadcast on Spike TV starts at 6 p.m. PST, as well as in Spanish language on mun2. The preliminary card will be streamed LIVE and FREE on Spike.com.

The full fight card for Bellator 99 from Pechanga Resort in Temecula, Calif., can be found below:

MAIN CARD

Bellator Featherweight Opening Round:
Patricio Pitbull (17-2) vs. Diego Nunes (18-4)

Bellator Featherweight Opening Round:
Justin Wilcox (11-5) vs. Akop Stepanyan (13-5)

Bellator Featherweight Opening Round:
Des Green (8-1) vs. Fabricio Guerreiro (17-1)

Bellator Featherweight Opening Round:
Joe Taimanglo (18-4) vs. Andrew Fisher (12-4)

Bellator Light Heavyweight Feature Fight:
Vladimir Matyushenko (26-7) vs. Houston Alexander (15-9)

PRELIMINARY CARD

Light Heavyweight Feature Fight:
Savio Kosic (4-1) vs. Hector Ramirez (9-5)

Bantamweight Feature Fight:
Derek Loffer (4-1) vs. Mario Navarro (4-3)

Welterweight Feature Fight:
Andy Murad (6-0) vs. Gavin Sterritt (4-1)

Featherweight Feature Fight:
Musa Toliver (9-8) vs. Goiti Yamauchi (14-1)

Heavyweight Feature Fight:
Manny Lara (4-3) vs. Blagoi Ivanov (7-0)

Light Heavyweight Feature Fight:
Nick Moghaddam (6-6) vs. Virgil Zwicker (10-3)