James Gallagher vs Leandro Higo set for Bellator 292

Image credit: Bellator MMA

A showdown between ranked bantamweights James Gallagher (#8) and Leandro Higo (#7) is set to take place at Bellator 292 on Friday 10th March in San Jose, California. Sources confirmed the matchup with SevereMMA.com.

Gallagher (11-2) will return to the Bellator cage for the first time in 16 months, since suffering a third-round submission loss to Patchy Mix at Bellator 270 in Dublin. The Irishman, who is 8-2 within the promotion, was subsequently included in Bellator’s bantamweight grand prix. However, Gallagher was forced to withdraw from the tournament to further recover from surgery.

More recently, “Strabanimal” has been calling for a fight against Wales’ Brett Johns. The pair were originally scheduled to square off in front of a 3Arena Dublin crowd at Bellator 285 in September, but the fight never came to fruition after Gallagher withdrew from the contest. Since then, Gallagher and Johns have continued to trade barbs online, with both fighters seeming to be keen to finally compete against each other.

Instead, Gallagher will throw down against Leandro Higo (21-6).

“Pitbull” last fought to a decision loss against Danny Sabatello in the quarter final of the bantamweight grand prix at Bellator 282 in June, snapping a 7-fight win streak. The Brazilian has called for a fight against Gallagher on multiple occasions, dating back to 2020.

Bellator 292 will host the first two matchups of the one-million-dollar Lightweight World Grand Prix. Newly crowned Lightweight Champion Usman Nurmagomedov (16-0) will defend his belt against former UFC Lightweight Champion Benson “Smooth” Henderson (30-11) in the main event. Meanwhile in the co-main event, #2 Tofiq Musayev (20-4) and #4 Alexander Shabily (22-3) will face off in their quarter-final matchup.