RISING IRISH FEATHERWEIGHT James Gallagher will aim to take his professional record to 5-0 when leading US promotion Bellator pays a visit to Israel on 10 November.
The 19-year-old from Strabane, who trains under John Kavanagh at Straight Blast Gym in Dublin, is set to take on home favourite and promotional debutant Kirill Medvedovsky (7-2) at Bellator 163 in Tel Aviv.
Gallagher, a regular training partner of UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor, is a well-regarded and confident youngster who is adamant that he’s destined for the very top in mixed martial arts, having left school at the age of 15 to move to Dublin and focus entirely on the sport.
He began his career as a professional with three first-round finishes on the domestic scene, before being snapped up by Bellator. It was a sign of how highly Gallagher is rated by Bellator bosses that he was catapulted straight on to the main card for his debut in July at London’s O2 Arena, where he dominated Mike Cutting en route to a unanimous-decision victory at Bellator 158.
Gallagher is aiming to climb the ranks of Bellator’s 145lbs division, which also includes the likes of Pat Curran, Patricio ‘Pitbull’ Freire and reigning champion Daniel Straus.
Bellator 163 will be headlined by a welterweight title bout between Andrey Koreshkov and Douglas Lima, with featherweight Noad Lahat set to fight — for the first time since he was released by the UFC earlier this year — against Scott Cleve.
