December 16th will be another big day for MMA in Ireland when Bellator MMA promote their first show in Dublin, in collaboration with BAMMA.
Bellator 169, which will take place in the 3 Arena, now has a main event after it was revealed that Muhammad ‘King Mo’ Lawal – one of Bellator’s biggest names – will headline the event opposite Japanese Olympic gold medalist judoka Satoshi Ishii.
Lawal(19-5-1) comes into the fight off a loss to former UFC top contender Phil Davis last May, while Ishii (14-6-1) will look to overturn a two fight skid which has seen him drop contests to Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson and Jiri Prozachka.
It was also announced that SBG fighter James Gallagher has been removed from his scheduled bout in Israel in November and will now compete on the Dublin card against an opponent to be determined.
As quoted by Peter Carroll in the Irish Mirror, Bellator president Scott Coker said that he’s excited to see Gallagher compete in front of his countrymen.
“We were all blown away by the Irish support when James was fighting in London. These guys was singing and shouting throughout the fight and it was really exciting to be there for that. Now, to have James fighting in Dublin along with some other fighters from the market, I expect it to be a real spectacle.”
A number of other Irish fighters are expected to compete on the card, with highly-touted flyweight prospects Dylan Tuke and Ryan Curtis also set to compete as part of the co-promotion with BAMMA.
