The “Strabanimal” strikes again! Monster Energy congratulates James Gallagher on winning the main event fight against Cal Ellenor at Bellator Europe 9 inside Allianz Cloud Arena in Milan, Italy, on Saturday night. In a dominant performance, the 23-year-old from Strabane, Ireland used his Jiu-Jitsu martial arts expertise to end the bantamweight division fight via submission at 4:31 minutes of Round 1.
Aired on Channel 5 and streamed live on YouTube, Bellator Europe 9: Gallagher vs. Ellenor was part of a double event package in Milan alongside Bellator 247 on Thursday night. Both fight nights were contested as closed-to-the-public events amid extensive COVID-19 safety protocols for staff, officials and fighters.
Saturday night’s showdown between Gallagher and Ellenor had been a long time in the making. The highly anticipated fight was announced and cancelled three times since the original booking more than one year ago due to injuries and the COVID-19 pandemic. Now it was finally time to settle the score.
Gallagher stepped into the Octagon on a three-fight winning streak after submitting Roman Salazar within a mere 35 seconds at Bellator 227 in 2019. But he was in for a challenge: Gallagher’s opponent in Milan, Ellenor, scored an impressive victory in his Bellator debut in February 2019 and had never been stopped via KO or submission in his entire career.
That was about to change on Saturday night. Ellenor started the fight by taunting Gallagher with low kicks to the leg. But the Irishman retaliated with a punishing body kick and took Ellenor down to the mat within 20 seconds of the fight. What happened next was textbook Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu all the way to the last moment: Gallagher established control over his opponent with a body triangle lock from the back, keeping the fight on the ground while wearing down the Englishman with hands and elbows to the head.
Ellenor made several attempts at taking the fight back to standing, but Gallagher never ceased control. His opponent fought off a neck crank at two minutes, but Gallagher kept tightening the squeeze while looking to secure a final chokehold. He found it with less than one minute to go in the first round and locked in a rear naked choke, ultimately forcing Ellenor to tap out for the first time in his professional career. Referee Todd Anderson from Canada stopped the fight at 4:31 minutes of Round 1, pronouncing Gallagher the winner by submission.
“I came in here the best I’ve ever been. They say it’s all talk but I’ve had me mouth shut for months and I still come out here and do it. Silence to the whole division. Silence!” said James Gallagher upon winning the headline fight at Bellator Europe 9 in Milan on Saturday night. “I’m just extremely proud of myself! I’ve worked hard. I’m 23 years old. Everyone counts me out, but I count myself in every time!”
Saturday night’s victory in Milan marks the fourth consecutive win for James Gallagher, who trains out of SBG Ireland. Gallagher (11-1 MMA) now has eight first-round finishes to his name and has earned nine out of his eleven MMA victories via submission.
Asked who he will fight next in his ringside interview after the fight, Gallagher insisted: “Give me a big bag of money and I’ll fight any one of them. I’m the toughest in this whole thing, no one can stop me.” Ending his post-fight interview, Gallagher said: “Give me that belt! It’s mine!”
James Gallagher counts amongst Monster Energy’s elite MMA athletes along with Juan “The Spaniard” Archuleta, Phil Davis, Dominick “Dominator” Cruz, Sergio “The Phenom” Pettis, Michael Chandler, Valerie Loureda, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, A.J. McKee, Aaron Pico, Gaston Bolanos, Rose Namajunas, Jon “Bones” Jones, Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone, Jorge “Gamebred” Masvidal, Chris “The All American” Weidman, Daniel Cormier, Tyron “The Chosen One” Woodley, Yair Rodriquez, Tony Ferguson, Joanna Jędrzejczyk, and Jessica-Rose Clark.
For more on Monster Energy’s MMA athletes visit www.monsterenergy.com. Follow Monster Energy on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
