News James Gallagher vs Steven Graham Headlines Bellator Dublin Feb 23

[Vulcan]

Bellator will make its return to Dublin, Ireland on Feb. 23 at the 3 Arena.

The promotion announced the event via press release Monday morning, revealing that James Gallagher will take on Steven Graham in the main event.

Gallagher (7-1-0) is coming off his first career loss to former CFFC champion, Ricky Bandejas, who finished “The Strabanimal” in the first round of his bantamweight debut at Bellator 204. Up until that point, the SBG fighter had won all four of his tests under the banner, including notable wins over Kirill Medvedovski and Chinzo Machida.

A relative unknown in comparison to Gallagher, Graham (6-3-0) will make his Bellator debut on the night. The American started his career with a run of 1-3, but has since rekindled his form and put together a run of five consecutive wins, with all victories coming by way of stoppage. However, only one of the fighters he took victory over had a winning record, Andrew Kimzey (3-0-0), whom he stopped in the first round of their meeting at Walkout FC 7.

Tickets will go on sale to the general public Dec. 12 at 9 a.m. local time.

https://www.mmafighting.com/2018/12...t-to-headline-bellator-dublin-event-on-feb-23

 

[SalvadorAllende]

It looks like a gimme match for Gallagher...

Weak main event. A derailed hypetrain vs a can

 

[cutch]

These are regional cards that don't currently have a TV deal in the US, (on 5Spike in UK & Ireland), he's probably fighting guys he should be fighting at 20-21 years old, he shouldn't be one win away from a title shot, he has plenty of time to get up there.

 

[fermaPY]

ah... i think that Bellator could have done a better job finding another body... mayne one with at least a better record...

 

[AimedWithV]

It looks like a gimme match for Gallagher...

Weak main event. A derailed hypetrain vs a can

Or, in other words "Let's see how many people will turn the DAZN on to see Conor in the attendance"

 

[Langinbang187]

Can't wait to not watch.

 

[skylolow]

To be fair he has had only 8 fights against similar green guys for the most part. So regardless of the hype he still is very green in his career. I don't have much of a problem of who he fights at this point. It's complete nonsense to think he could compete with Caldwell at this point or even in 3 or 4 fights.

What I will say is even with it in Ireland, they deserve a better main event than that. Maybe he could co-main event and that would be just fine.

 

[Mmmmmmma1234]

These are regional cards that don't currently have a TV deal in the US, (on 5Spike in UK & Ireland), he's probably fighting guys he should be fighting at 20-21 years old, he shouldn't be one win away from a title shot, he has plenty of time to get up there.

He's almost as young as Erik Silva, I agree he just needs more time to develop.

 

[qw3rty]

This is the main event?

I don't want to be that guy who shits on Coker in every thread but the level of the cards are decreasing badly

 

[FKA]

I'm watching, I like gallagher regardless of his persona he puts out.his fights are usually pretty fun to watch and he accepted defeat well so what evs.

Wonder how this card fills out?

 

[cutch]

This is the main event?

I don't want to be that guy who shits on Coker in every thread but the level of the cards are decreasing badly

He is running a card with the budget 5Spike are giving him, it's basically a BAMMA card, they have BAMMA's promoter & BAMMA's matchmaker, when Bellator announced they would be running 10 extra shows, designed for the Western Europe market, it was obvious it would be BAMMA/Cage Warriors level cards, you're not going to see Gerard Mousasi or some other big name on these cards.

 

[qw3rty]

I'm watching, I like gallagher regardless of his persona he puts out.his fights are usually pretty fun to watch and he accepted defeat well so what evs.

Wonder how this card fills out?

Karl Moore fighting some ammy
Charlie Ward fighting some 1-5 guy
John Redmond punching a bag because he will lose against any guy
Sinead Kavanagh fighting Casanova again

 

[Brodels]

Never heard of Graham. 2nd shit headliner they've announced recently

 

[RODNEY83]

Steven Graham apparently has won 5 in a row. This is hilarious, Bellator back stabbed to basically destroy BAMMA, only to put together a BAMMA type fight card. Pathetic

 

[FKA]

Steven Graham apparently has won 5 in a row. This is hilarious, Bellator back stabbed to basically destroy BAMMA, only to put together a BAMMA type fight card. Pathetic

The only fighters bellator acquired were free agents its bamma who didnt resign them so whose fault is that?

Obviously the ppl behind the scenes knew Bamma was slacking and jumped ship.....there was no backstabbing.

Bamma copromoted with bellator and made good money piggybacking off of them multiple times.If bellator didnt sign the free agents someone would have lol.

 

[The ScorpioN]

Bah gawd that sweet chin music nearly killed him

 

[CC27]

Not a good fight but they are dialing back on him to get him a win in his hometown. How about throwing Ricky B some love, he's pushing on twitter for a fight while they are giving the hype train a main event slot after he whipped his ass.

But you see that happen all the time, the guy who beats the hype train gets thrown in the back seat. Sage, Pico etc.

 

[CC27]

Steven Graham apparently has won 5 in a row. This is hilarious, Bellator back stabbed to basically destroy BAMMA, only to put together a BAMMA type fight card. Pathetic

DIdnt back stab them, they are sharks though. They teamed with BAMMA, used them to sell tickets for undercards. Learned the market then when time was right they went against them with events, signed their fighters and took their management and sunk them.

Thats business. They went in and took the place of the regional promotion in a way, atleast if their plan works and they do run a bunch of European based events.

 

[cheesus]

I think it's a fair fight for Ghallagher, the guy isn't really proven at this point. He failed his first true test.

 

[PolarBearPaulVarelans]

This is the main event?

I don't want to be that guy who shits on Coker in every thread but the level of the cards are decreasing badly

With the exception of Bellator 200, their European cards, whether in Italy, Hungary, the UK, or Ireland, have ALWAYS been substantially weaker. Seriously, go back and look at some of those cards. If you think it's "decreasing", you haven't been paying attention.

And considering Bellator is going to be putting on more cards in Western Europe than ever, what else do you expect? It's local talent. As someone else mentioned, it's a good BAMMA card.

It doesn't affect the quality of their cards in the US.