Watch: 20-year-old Gallagher submits Chinzo Machida in 1st round
James Gallagher's grappling is outstanding. He DOMINATES Chinzo Machida enroute to a first round RNC win. 20 year old savage. #BellatorNYC pic.twitter.com/qWHU71HJt0
— Ahmar Khan (@AhmarSKhan) June 25, 2017
There's something about the Irish in Madison Square Garden.
Following in the footsteps of teammate Conor McGregor, who knocked out Eddie Alvarez to win the UFC lightweight title in the same building seven months ago, 20-year-old James Gallagher made a spectacular New York debut by submitting Chinzo Machida 2:22 into the first round of their featherweight bout at Bellator 180 on Saturday.
To put things in perspective, when Machida was 20 years old, Gallagher hadn't even celebrated his first birthday.
The white-hot prospect showed no respect for Machida's famed karate background, walking him down before eventually taking his opponent to the mat. Gallagher advanced to full mount before gaining back control to set up the fight-ending rear-naked choke.
Gallagher improves to 4-0 inside the Bellator cage and 7-0 overall.
Related - Lucky 7: James Gallagher's path from Strabane to Madison Square Garden