It could not have gone much better for James Gallagher in front of his hometown fans.
Gallagher, the top prospect in Bellator, finished Roman Salazar with a guillotine choke in just 35 seconds Friday in Dublin. The bout acted as the main event of Bellator 227 at a sold-out 3Arena.
Immediately afterward, Gallagher jumped out of the cage in celebration, right into the waiting arms of longtime teammate and mentor Conor McGregor, MMA's biggest star.
"I've worked my balls off for this moment, and no one -- I mean f---ing no one -- is going to take this away from me," Gallagher said in the postfight interview.
Gallagher opened the fight with a flying knee attempt. Salazar evaded it and shot in for a takedown. Gallagher latched on to a guillotine choke, and the contest was over soon after. McGregor was cageside cheering on his SBG Ireland stablemate.
Gallagher (10-1), 22, has won three straight fights after losing his undefeated record to Ricky Bandejas last year via first-round knockout. He is a big part of Bellator's plans in Ireland, the United Kingdom and beyond and is quickly becoming a star in his home country.
Brash, not unlike McGregor, Gallagher refers to his fight weeks as "The Jimmy Show."
Salazar (13-10), a former UFC fighter, took the bout on a week's notice after Gallagher's original opponent, Callum Ellenor, withdrew due to injury. Salazar, a 31-year-old Arizona native, has dropped two straight and four of five.
In a co-feature, Michael Page knocked out Ireland's Richard Kiely with a highlight-reel flying knee at 2:47 of the first round. Page (15-1) rebounded from a second-round TKO loss to Douglas Lima in the semifinals of the Bellator Featherweight World Grand Prix in May.
Also on the card, former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson defeated fellow UFC veteran Myles Jury by unanimous decision. Henderson (28-8) has won four straight.
