STRABANE NATIVE JAMES GALLAGHER submitted Anthony Taylor via rear-naked choke in the third round to claim victory at Friday night’s Bellator 169 event at Dublin’s 3Arena.
The 20-year-old has some lofty ambitions and feels he has a shot at the featherweight title within twelve months. His victory tonight certainly backs up the hype surrounding the Straight Blast Gym fighter, who was the subject of some electric home support during the bout.
It proved a pretty mixed night for John Kavanagh’s SBG overall.
Elsewhere on the card, there were 1st round defeats for Brian Moore and Dylan Tuke at the hands of Daniel Weichel and Cameron Else respectively.
However, there was better news for former national boxing champion Sinead Kavanagh.
She predicted a 1st-round k/o but it took her a little longer to shake Elina Kallionidou, eventually winning via unanimous decision.
In the headline heavyweight event, high-profile Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal defeated 2008 Olympic judo gold-medalist Satoshi Ishii via unanimous decision.
Bellator is the second-largest MMA organisation and Friday represented their first step into this market.
The night was a co-promotion with UK-based BAMMA – well-known in Ireland owing to the frequency of their events and which acted as the preliminary card on Friday.
And in the headline bout, Ballymena’s Alan Philpott failed to get the better of reigning champion Tom Duquesnoy for the bantamweight belt – the Frenchman winning via rear naked choke in the second round.
Full results from Bellator 169/BAMMA 27:
Bellator 169:
Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal defeated Satoshi Ishii via Unanimous Decision
James Gallagher defeated Anthony Taylor via RNC in 3rd Rd
Sinead Kavanagh defeated Elina Kallionidou via Unanimous Decision
Daniel Weichel defeated Brian Moore via Arm Triangle in 1st Rd
Cameron Else defeated Dylan ‘The Nuke’ Tuke via TKO in 1st Rd
BAMMA 27:
(BAMMA World Bantamweight Title) Tom ‘Firekid’ Duquesnoy (c) defeated Alan ‘The Apprentice’ Philpott via RNC in 2nd Rd
(Lonsdale Lightweight Title) Rhys ‘Skeletor’ McKee defeated Jai Herbert via KO in 1st Rd
(Welterweight Bout) ‘Mr Bag & Tag’ Nathan Jones defeated Walter Gahadza via Split Decision
(Welterweight Bout) Terry ‘The Dominator’ Brazier defeated Niklas Holtze via Unanimous Decision
(Welterweight Bout) Richard Kiely defeated Keith McCabe via Knee to the body TKO in 1st Rd
(Welterweight Bout) ‘Big Daddy’ Kiefer Crosbie defeated Conor Riordan via Triangle with elbows in 2nd Rd
(Bantamweight Bout) Blaine O’Driscoll defeated Neil Ward via Unanimous Decision
(Bantamweight Bout) Ian ‘Concrete’ Cleary defeated Andy ‘Lofty’ Lofthouse via Unanimous Decision
