When one door closes, another opens.

Pat Curran was expected to face season five tournament winner Daniel Straus at the Bellator season eight finale this upcoming April, but those plans were scratched when word came out that the scrappy Cincinnati native broke his hand yesterday and had been forced to pull out of the fight.

Thankfully, with all the recent tournaments concluding, Bellator already had a contender waiting in the wings in Russian striking phenom Shahbulat Shamhalaev.

Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney broke the news on Twitter just moments ago:

Great news @assassinshah vs @patcurranmma for World Title April 4th on @spiketv live at @revelresorts. KO artist vs. KO artist. Don't blink!

— Bjorn Rebney (@BjornRebney) February 27, 2013

Shamhalaev put a beating on Rad Martinez less than a week ago in the main event of Bellator 90 at West Valley City, Utah, knocking the wrestler out in the second round in front of Martinez's hometown fans.

The turnaround for Shamhalaev's next fight will be a wild six weeks, and this time it could potentially go all five rounds.

In Curran, "The Assasin" will be facing the stiffest test of his career, a top 10 featherweight in the world according to our SBN rankings. Curran has defeated the likes of Mike Ricci, Roger Huerta, Marlon Sandro, Joe Warren and most recently Patricio Freire in his stellar run under the Bellator banner which has seen him rise to become a two-time tournament winner and the featherweight champion.

Shamhalaev possesses some serious power, accuracy and some of the featherweight division's best hand speed. Does he have a shot at dethroning the champ?