Bellator 95 results recap for 'Curran vs Shamhalaev' last night (April 4) from Atlantic City

Bellator Fighting Championships returned for round 11 on Spike TV last night (April 4, 2013) in Atlantic City with a the season eight finale featuring a featherweight title fight and two tournament finals in the featherweight and middleweight divisions.

The main event of the evening featured a 145 pound title defense from Bellator champion Pat Curran as he took on seasons even featherweight tournament winner Shahbulat Shamhalaev in what many expected to be a thrilling showdown.

Shamhalaev had made quick work of everyone he'd faced during his run through the season seven tournament, but the top-ranked Curran made it look easy.

Both men showed a tremendous amount of respect for each other in the early goings of the fight and with both talented strikers being heavy counter punchers, it was interesting to see who was going to make the first significant move.

Instead of winging punches and creating counterstrike opportunities, both fighters threw several kicks, whether they were leg kicks, body kicks, push kicks or front kicks as they worked to find their range.

At the midway point of the first round, Curran had Shamhalaev thinking kick and instead he exploded for a takedown. Shamhalaev tried to do an emergency sprawl but left his defenses completely exposed. Curran initially thought about diving on his back but instead latched on a unique version of the guillotine choke, trapping one of Shamhalaev's arms inside the hold and dropping to his back to squeeze it tightly.

The Russian refused to tap and within seconds was put to sleep as the referee jumped in and awarded "Paddy Mike" the victory via brilliant technical submission.

This was perhaps Curran's most impressive performance yet and proved he belongs among the best featherweights in the world. Next up for the champion will be a title defense against either Daniel Straus or the season eight featherweight tournament winner (result posted below).

For complete Bellator 95 results and detailed round-by-round commentary of all the televised fights click here.