James Gallagher is set to make his return to the Bellator cage against promotional newcomer Ricky Bandejas in South Dakota on August 17th.
MMA Fighting reports that the fight will go down at bantamweight at Bellator 204. Gallagher hasn’t competed since June of last year when he defeated Chinzo Machida at Bellator: NYC via first round submission.
He was subsequently expected to main event his first Bellator show against Jeremiah Labiano at Bellator 187 in Dublin, Ireland. Unfortunately Gallagher suffered a knee injury and was forced to pull out. He was expected back against Adam Borics at Bellator 196 but a hand injury forced him out again.
Since signing with Bellator in 2016, Gallagher has emerged as a huge prospect for the promotion. He’ll take on Bandejas who signed with Bellator last week after having competed for the CFFC promotion throughout his entire professional mixed martial arts (MMA) career.
His last fight saw him defeat Nick Mamalis in the fourth round to win the promotion’s bantamweight title. It will be nice to see Gallagher return to the Bellator cage after such a long layoff, as well as how Bandejas responds to challenging such a fan favorite in his promotional debut.
What are you expecting from Gallagher vs. Bandejas? Let us know your thoughts below in the comments!
