James Gallagher will be watching the main event of Bellator 242 closely. Sergio Pettis will be facing the man that handed Gallagher his first loss in MMA, Ricky Bandejas. Bellator 242 is the first event from the promotion since COVID 19 put MMA on hold and with Mohegan Sun scheduled to be their temporary base of operations for the next four events, fighters like Gallagher seem to be licking their chops to get back to action.
While fighters were doing their virtual media day, Gallagher gave his own breakdown of the bout from his personal experience with Bandejas. “Personally, I think Ricky will get it,” Gallagher wrote on Instagram. Gallagher continued, “He’s been on a great streak with pinpoint accuracy and knockout power.” Gallagher gave the nod to the way Bandejas handed him his sole loss at Bellator 204 but also remembers some holes in the game of Bandejas.
Gallagher said that Bandejas gained some fame from that win, but the loss, “made me stronger.” Gallagher is on a three-fight win streak of his own with two of the wins coming by way of submission. So, it would seem Gallagher is interested in some payback. “Get past Sergio, and I’ll be coming to pick it up,” Gallagher said at the end of his post.
Gallagher was supposed to face Cal Ellenor in May and even had a pretty interesting face-off when the bout was announced in New York City last March, just before the pandemic put a stop to any planned events before spring. The fight with Ellenor has steam behind it but if Bandejas picks up the win against Pettis, it’s not a bad match to make if Bellator can get these two men in a cage before the end of the year.
Do you think that rematch will happen?
