ONE OF IRELAND’S mostly highly-regarded mixed martial prospects has taken a big step forward in his career.
Strabane native James Gallagher, 19, who’s been training under John Kavanagh at Straight Blast Gym for over four years, has confirmed that he has signed a contract with Bellator.
The US-based organisation, which is owned by Viacom, has staged over 150 events since it was founded in 2008 and is widely regarded as the leading competitor to the UFC’s dominance of the sport of MMA.
Gallagher, who made his amateur debut at the age of 15, turned professional last October and quickly set about clocking up the wins. His first-round submission of Gerard Gilmore at BAMMA 24 in February brought his record to 3-0.
According to a report by MMAFighting.com, Gallagher will face Limerick’s Sean Tobin in a BAMMA bout on 4 June before making his Bellator debut later this year.
“It’s all I ever dreamed of since I was 13 and now it’s a reality. It is only the begging for me, I’m only 19 years old, I’m young and hungry,” said Gallagher, who spent 10 weeks in Las Vegas last summer as part of Conor McGregor’s training camp for his UFC 189 bout against Chad Mendes.
While Bellator has often come in for criticism for hosting some less than credible contests — the recent bout between Kimbo Slice and Dada 5000, for example — it is also home to some of the best fighters in MMA, including Will Brooks, Michael Chandler, Liam McGeary, Phil Davis, Daniel Straus and former UFC champion Benson Henderson.
The organisation will hold an event outside of North America for the first time when Bellator 152 takes place a week on Saturday in Torino, Italy.
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What’s with all the hate for the author? Get a life lads
Fight me
Poor article but leave the man alone, he’s just trying to put stew on the table like the rest of us
That’s rich coming from you Hightower after I seen you commenting racist jokes on an article only last night
After you saw, please spell it right John it’s my biggest peeve.
Ah shut up ya meath p***k
Anything a better than a Paul Fennessy article though.
Hate????
I can read Eoin casually enough and his articles are generally nice to read. I find the other journalists articles are often poor opinion pieces that are badly researched. I can also tell it’s his piece after a few sentences, and I don’t enjoy reading his style of writing either.
I’ve also seen him argue with posters in the comments section when they don’t agree with his piece which looks sloppy to me. He doesn’t like criticism.
Wow, ease up lads! I thought it was an interesting piece.
Its not like hes been playing there for a year now oh wait
“Footballer turns out for club” would be a better headline
‘Keyboard Warrior Who’s Never Written An Article In His Life Thinks He Can Act Hard’ would be a good one for you no?
If you’ve nothing nice to say, say nothing.
Eoin if your where any good at your job you’d know that it’s his agents greedy fee that’s holding up the transfer, not pogba, not Utd , and not Woodward .
I thought ‘mummy’ was the agent for her three boys.
I hope United pull out of this saga soon. Being held to a ransom by an agent is embarrassing for the club. And not to mention the fee for a player who clearly wants to play elsewhere. Surely there is better value in the market.
Poor
Which Guinea , there’s 3 !