RNC’s for The Strabanimal!@StrabanimalMMA
gets another first round submission victory at
#BellatorMilan! pic.twitter.com/ONtnB3Wjby— BellatorMMA (@BellatorMMA)
October 3, 2020
After being rescheduled three times, the grudge match between
James
Gallagher and Callum
Ellenor finally went down at
Bellator Milan.
It took less than one round for “The Strabanimal” to overcome
his opponent thanks to a vicious submission that ended the bitter
rivalry in Saturday’s bantamweight headliner at Allianz Cloud in
Milan, Italy. Gallagher (11-1) took his opponent on the canvas
early in the fight and trapped him in a body lock. Once there, the
Irish fighter took his time to expose his opponent’s gaps in the
grappling. Gallagher teased Ellenor (8-3) with a neck crank
before sinking a deep rear-naked choke. “Cal Pacino” tapped at
the 4:31 mark in the opening stanza.
“Give me anyone, everyone, and a big bag of money, and I’ll fight
any f–kin’ one of them. I’m too smart for the [rest of the
division]. I’ve worked hard. I’m in the third main event. I’m 23
years old. Everyone counts me out, but I count myself in every
f–kin’ time, and that’s all that matters,” Gallagher said in the
post-fight interview before asking for a title shot. “Give me that
belt. It’s mine.”
In the co-main event, Charlie
Ward (9-4) and Andy
Manzolo (23-9) locked horns in the middleweight
division. Manzolo looked like he could keep combat the
strength of his opponent in the first round, where he landed a
takedown and controlled his opponent on the ground. In the second
stanza, Ward became more aggressive and imposed his dominant style
on his Estonian opponent. After taking his opponent down, the Irish
fighter mauled his opponent from the top position for the rest of
the stanza. The third round saw the same script repeating itself.
Eventually, all three judges rewarded Ward with a unanimous
decision for his sixth victory under the Bellator banner.
The first fight on the main card pitted Charlie
Leary (17-11-1) against Kiefer
Crosbie (8-2) in a 160-pound catchweight. The first and only
one round of the battle was a relentless slugfest. Both competitors
landed heavy shots from the outset of the bout, with Crosbie
taking the lead shortly after. Midway through the round, Leary
started connecting heavier than his opponent, taking Crosbie
down, where he inflicted some damage on the face of the Irish
contender. Referee Todd Anderson looked very close to stopping the
action a few seconds before the end of the round, but Crosbie
survived to make it back to his corner. Right before the beginning
of the second stanza, the referee called the physician to check on
the Irish fighter. The physician decided that Crosbie was not fit
to continue, and Leary took home a precious TKO
victory.