A fun bantamweight matchup has been added to the upcoming Bellator 292 card.
Wednesday the promotion officially announced James Gallagher will share the Bellator cage with Leandro Higo at the event set to take place at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif. on March 10. The event airs on Showtime following prelims on MMA Junkie.
Gallagher (11-2 MMA, 8-2 BMMA) will return to the cage for the first time since a submission loss to Patchy Mix at Bellator 270 in November 2021. Due to injury, he was forced out of last year’s bantamweight grand prix, and later had to pull out of a scheduled fight against Brett Johns at Bellator 285.
Prior to his loss to Mix, Gallagher, 26, ripped through four straight opponents, finishing Steven Graham, Roman Salazar and Cal Ellenor in the first round.
Higo (21-6 MMA, 4-4 BMMA) was also set back in his last outing, ending up on the wrong end of a unanimous decision against Danny Sabatello in the bantamweight grand prix quarterfinals. The loss snapped a three-fight win streak which included second-round submissions of Shawn Bunch and Ricky Bandejas.
The 33-year-old Higo will not only look to get back into the win column, but also stay above .500 in Bellator.
With the addition, the Bellator 292 lineup includes:
- Usman Nurmagomedov vs. Benson Henderson – for lightweight title/grand prix quarterfinal
- Tofiq Musayev vs. Alexander Shabily – lightweight grand prix quarterfinal
- James Gallagher vs. Leandro Higo
- Enrique Barzola vs. Erik Perez
- Cass Bell vs. Josh Hill
- Wladmir Gouvea vs. Sean Tucker
- Theo Haig vs. Adam Wamsley
