A massive fight has been booked in Bellator‘s bantamweight division. The promotion announced today that they have finalized a matchup between James Gallagher (11-1) and Patrick “Patchy†Mix (14-1).
The matchup will take place at Bellator 270 which will take place on August 27th in Dublin, Ireland. James Gallagher was turning into Bellator’s version of Conor McGregor just a couple of years ago. The brash Irish contender was even a teammate of The Notorious one.
Gallagher had confidence and he was trying to ride the Irish momentum of Conor McGregor. However, the path wasn’t as smooth for Gallagher. Gallagher was being fast-tracked by Bellator, but then he ran into Ricky Bandejas after an injury layoff.
Bandejas shocked everyone by stopping the Irishman in the first round. Gallagher took the loss well and has since rebounded extremely well. Since that loss, Gallagher has gone 4-0 inside the Bellator cage.
Only one of those fights has gone the distance. This matchup against Patchy Mix is the biggest fight of Gallagher’s career. Should he win this matchup, he’s likely going to get a shot at the bantamweight title.
Bellator title eliminator?
Originally, these two men were supposed to fight at Bellator 258 on May 7th. Gallagher pulled out of the fight and Mix ended up taking on Albert Morales. Mix got the win by third round arm-triangle choke. It was a good bounce back for Mix who had fought for the bantamweight title and lost in September.
The grappling of Patchy Mix is something to behold. When he fought Juan Archuleta for the title, his grappling alone made it look like he was going to win. His incredible skill on the mat allowed him to control the early portions of his title fight.
However, his gas tank ultimately failed him and Juan Archuleta captured the Bellator bantamweight title by decision. Overall, Mix is 3-1 inside the Bellator cage.
It’s clear that Bellator is setting this up as a title eliminator. These two headlining a card in Dublin is going to be massive and having a title shot on the line only ups the stakes.