Bellator 217 kicks off this Saturday from the 3Arena in Dublin, Ireland in what appears to be a Straight Blast Gym Ireland vs. the world card. All four of the main card matchups involve one competitor from the gym made famous by the works of Conor McGregor and John Kavanagh.
The top of the Bellator 217 billing will see the always brash SBG Ireland product James Gallagher drop down from featherweight to 135-pounds to take on 6-3 American Steven Graham. The 22-year old Gallagher was on quite the tear, winning seven-straight with six of those by way of submission. At Bellator 204, Gallagher was upset by Ricky Bandejas in the first round, but now looks to get back to his winning ways in a new weight class.
Steven Graham got off to a rocky 1-3 start to begin his professional MMA career, but has since strung together five-straight wins to get himself back on track. All five of those wins came by way of finish, and four of them happened within the very first round. With both main event fighters typically winning by submission, we might be in store for an exciting grappling battle.
In the co-main event slot for Bellator 217, SBG Ireland has Peter Queally squaring off with fellow BAMMA vet, Myles Price, in the lightweight division. “The Showstopper” Queally brings a record of 11-4-1 into his Bellator debut, and ironically enough, it wasn’t until his last fight that he actually stopped the show. Queally KO’d his opponent in the opening round, but before that, his other 15-fights went the distance, for better or worse.
Standing across from Queally will be Ireland’s own Myles Price. “Magic” sports a 10-7 record, having stopped his opponent in half of those, with the other five-bouts going the distance. Consistency has plagued Price, however. After a hot 7-1 start to his pro career, and that only loss coming to an ‘on the way to the UFC’ Norman Parke, Price has gone a less than impressive 3-6. Oddly enough, in his last bout he dropped a decision in a rematch to the now UFC veteran Norman Parke.
Before that in the welterweight division, the 5-0 undefeated Kiefer Crosbie will rep SBG Ireland against the 3-2 Daniel Olejniczak from Poland. Crosbie put together four-straight finishes before winning a decision in his promotional debut at Bellator 211 in Italy. Olejniczak has already seen a mixed bag of results in his young career. With the BAMMA promotion, Olejniczak saw a TKO win, a decision win, a TKO loss, and even a majority draw. Since then, he submitted to strikes in Brave, and then won by TKO in his last fight at Clan Wars 33. This should be fun, at minimum.
Opening up the main card, SBG Ireland’s Richie Smullen makes his Bellator debut against fellow newcomer Adam Gustab at featherweight. The 3-1-1 Smullen comes to Bellator following his lone UFC appearance, dropping a first-round submission to Luis Pena on the TUF 27 Finale last July. Before that, Smullen was involved in a majority draw, so Smullen will be looking to get his first win in two-years. The 3-3 Gustab will be standing in Smullen’s way, and he is also searching for his first win in nearly two-years. Between the two fighters, they have only seen the scorecards twice in eleven bouts, so there’s a solid chance of this on ending early.
Bellator 217 main card (9 PM ET, DAZN/Paramount Network on tape delay)
James Gallagher vs. Steven Graham
Peter Queally vs. Myles Price
Kiefer Crosbie vs. Daniel Olejniczak
Richie Smullen vs. Adam Gustab