James Gallagher Brings First Ever BAMMATOR to Ireland!

James Gallagher Brings First Ever BAMMATOR to Ireland Kung Fu Kingdom 770x472

Straight Blast Gym’s young MMA prospect, James Gallagher (4-0-0), made his Bellator debut in London at Bellator 158 Daley vs. Lima. Kung Fu Kingdom were cage side at the event seeing the young Irishman displaying a maturity unexpected for his age, considering the scale of the event with big names like Michael Page, Paul Daley, Matt Mitrione and Francis Carmont also on the card.

‘The Strabanimal’ will be fighting a little closer to home at Dublin’s 3 arena, hoping he can achieve a more decisive victory this time around.

Gallagher boasts an impressive record for a 20-year-old, scoring 3 submission victories already in his pro career and many more in his amateur career. Still undefeated, Gallagher has a well-rounded game as a Jiu-Jitsu specialist and has trained in Karate since the age of 6. With a prestigious team behind him, a well-respected coach in John Kavanagh and training partners like Conor McGregor and Gunnar Nelson, Gallagher could be set for a sterling career and his next test comes in the form of the American, Anthony “Pretty Boy” Taylor (1-1-0) in the Featherweight class (145lbs).

On the card’s main event, ‘King Mo’ Muhammed Lawal (19-5-0) faces former Olympic Judo champion Satoshi Ishii (14-6-1) at Light Heavyweight (205lbs). With both fighters coming off of losses, both will be keen to get back to winning ways in a fight which could witness some interesting grappling exchanges given that both had backgrounds in grappling arts before transitioning into MMA, competing in wrestling and Judo respectively. Neither fighter has lost by submission but Ishii holds a respectable amount of submission wins (6) whilst ‘King Mo’ has 13 knockout victories to his name with no submission wins.

Bellator has teamed up with British MMA organisation BAMMA to co-host the event, meaning both promotions will be putting on fights on the night in what has since been dubbed ‘Bammator’. Heading the BAMMA card are French Bantamweight (135lbs) sensation Tom Duquesnoy (13-1-0) vs Northern Ireland’s Alan Philpott (16-8-0). Also featured on the BAMMA card are Straight Blast Gym team-mates Dylan Tuke and Kiefer Crosbie, meaning along with Gallagher, SBG will be thoroughly represented on the night.

Bellator 169/ BAMMA 27 will be held at Dublin’s 3 Arena on Friday December 16th. Tickets are available at Ticketmaster.

Jake Bulger

Jake started martial arts training as a child with Ishin-Ryu Karate, he enjoyed martial arts movies and was particularly intrigued by Bruce Lee. As well as a keen interest in film, which he studied at university, Jake also has a true cultural interest in all things martial arts and particularly enjoys the history of original Okinawan Karate. His training has since involved boxing and several other styles, he currently practices Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and is a big fan of MMA.