We investigate the decay mechanism in the B^- -> phi phi K^- decay with the phi phi invariant mass below the charm threshold and in the neighborhood of the eta_c invariant mass region. Our approach is based on the use of factorization model and the knowledge of matrix elements of the weak currents. For the B meson weak transition we apply form factor formalism, while for the light mesons we use effective weak and strong Lagrangians. We find that the dominant contributions to the branching ratio come from the eta, eta and eta(1490) pole terms of the penguin operators in the decay chains B^- -> eta (eta, eta(1490)) K^- -> phi phi K^-. Our prediction for the branching ratio is in agreement with the Belles result.