If you thought suffering his first professional loss was going to hold James Gallagher back, then think again. The brash young Irishman is returning to action, headlining Bellator 217 on Saturday in Dublin, Ireland.
The event will mark the first time Bellator will air on Sky Sports in a prime-time time slot for everyone in the U.K. and Ireland, adding a little more sizzle to the steak for the "Strabanimal."
"It means everything," Gallagher (7-1) told ESPN. "It's going to give people a proper insight of what I actually do. I'm happy about that. Once the Sky Sports machine gets going and they start hyping it and putting it out there, it's going to blow my profile through the roof. In this game, your profile is everything. If you don't have a profile, you don't make money, and that's exactly what I'm in this game for, to make money and to be a world champion."
The SBG Ireland featherweight suffered his first loss, a first-round knockout at the hands of Ricky Bandejas, last August. Half a year later, the 22-year-old reflects on what in his mind has been nothing but a positive experience.
"It's been the best six months of my life," Gallagher explained. "I've been working hard and living my best life, as they say. I've been working hard and focused on what I want and what I'm doing. I've just been grinding away and looking forward to Saturday night. It's going to be a big moment for me.
"It's the best thing that's ever happened to me. It was devastating at the time. Everybody hates losing and I'm the most competitive person in the whole division. I f---ing hate losing. There's nothing worse, but when you look at it and see what I learned and took from it and see how it's developed me, I'm thankful for it. I feel like it's one of the best things that's happened in my career so far, and I'm going to show why on Saturday night."
When you think of MMA events in Ireland, the UFC's return to Dublin back in the summer of 2014, after a lengthy spell away from the market, stands out as one of those iconic moments in the sport. Not only did every Irish fighter win, the crowd was electric, and it all culminated in the crowning of Conor McGregor as the sport's newest superstar.
"We're not here to take part, we're here to take over," McGregor said after stopping Diego Brandao that night. Remember that? Gallagher, who was 18 at the time, recalls how that event in particular had a profound affect on his decision to pursue a professional MMA career.
"It's been the best six months of my life. I've been working hard and living my best life, as they say. I've been working hard and focused on what I want and what I'm doing. I've just been grinding away and looking forward to Saturday night. It's going to be a big moment for me." James Gallagher
"I was doing Paddy Holohan's corner for that event," Gallagher said. "That's a moment that will stick with me forever, and I'm very grateful to Paddy because now when I walk out on Saturday night and face that crowd and atmosphere, I've already experienced that, I've already walked out there. I wasn't the man in the cage that night, but I still experienced it from the sidelines and know what it was like to walk and hear that crowd. It inspired me that night. I could see what they were doing, I could see what was happening behind the scenes. From that day, I was like, 'That's going to be me someday. I'm going to get there. I'm going to do that,' and here I am."
Much like that event more than four years ago, it's quite literally Team SBG vs. the world Saturday night, and it appears to have brought the team together during camp.
"The whole card is full of us," Gallagher said. There's Peter Queally, Richie Smullen, Kiefer Crosbie, Richard Kiely, there's an army of us coming. When you're working with that caliber of people and we're all on that same mindset, we're all going to go out there and steal the show. It's almost as if we're competing against each other but helping each other get better at the same time. We're all on a mission, and when you've got a group of hungry athletes all on that buzz, it's a dangerous army and I would not want to be the ones to go up against us."
Gallagher's opponent, Steven Graham (5-3), will have his hands full, not only with what should be a lively crowd but also an opponent who is as confident as ever.
"What he's bringing to the table is a nice win and a nice paycheck for me," Gallagher said. "I've got to be wary of everything he's got. I've got to be focused and aware of every movement, calculated, sharp and ready. Once I'm at that level, this fella won't land a glove on me. He won't touch me as long as I'm sharp, aware and smart, using my fight IQ. This fella won't last one round with me.
"I'm going to bombard him and he's going to freeze up, he's going to be like a rabbit in front of headlights. He's just going to startle. He's going to see me coming, and I feel like he's going to freeze up."
You want a prediction for how this fight will play out. The Irish featherweight gets very specific.
"I'm going to beat him 2 minutes and 50 seconds of the first round," Gallagher said. "It's going to take me one minute to figure him out, play around and see what kind of pressure he's dealing with. It's going to take me another minute to break him down, and it's going to take me 50 seconds to finish him."
Earlier this week on Ariel Helwani's MMA Show, Bellator president Scott Coker announced the promotion will be holding a 16-man featherweight tournament, and it's an opportunity the organization has already spoken to Gallagher about. While keen to be included, it will come down to the outcome of the fight this weekend along with some contract renegotiation.
"I'm very, very interested," Gallagher said. If it makes money, it makes sense to me and I'm very interested, but I have a tough opponent ahead of me on Saturday night. Once I take him out, I'm pretty sure I'm going to get a nice offer to step up into that tournament. One thing about me is I'm smart. I'm only 22, but I don't get blinded by numbers. I'm going to sit here and think about it, my future, my career, and if it makes sense, I'm going to go for it. If it doesn't make sense, then I won't."
"I like [the tournament]. They create excitement, and I feel like that's why they need me in the featherweight tournament. They need someone like me to go in there to create hype about it because it's just not going to happen if I'm not in it. If you get me matched against Pico, AJ, Pitbull, that's when the money signs start flickering, but if they're all matched against each other, it's OK, it'll create interest but not half as much if I'm involved."