James Gallagher reminisced over the moment Khabib Nurmagomedov’s dad tried to stop Russian fans from throwing bottles at him.
Throughout his time in MMA, the ‘Strabanimal’ has cemented his status as one of the most charismatic fighters in the sport, with the striker set to write the next chapter of his story at 971 FC in Dubai, UAE, on June 14, against Fabrício Soares.
However, while the gifted athlete likely has many bright days ahead, he’s already captured possibly the craziest moment of his entire journey.
On a night that will stay with him forever, the warrior traded leather with people who were furious that he masterminded a strategy to beat a top prospect.
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James Gallagher had bottles thrown at him during Russian brawl
In MMA, sometimes tensions can boil over even after fights are done. In a moment of madness, Khabib Nurmagomedov jumped out of the cage after defeating Conor McGregor.
And the legendary lightweight’s father, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, once tried to stop another of these types of situations from escalating past boiling point, after James Gallagher coached his teammate, Peter Queally, to a stunning knockout victory over David Khachatryan.
In an exclusive interview with Bloody Elbow, Gallagher reminisced: “Your man (Queally’s opponent) came at him, Peter came back, crack, knocked your man spark out cold, he drops.
“Then, next minute, wack, I’m hit in the back of the head with a bottle. Everyone starts firing in bottles.
“Khabib’s dad gets into the cage and starts telling the crowd to ‘calm down’. Bottles were hitting him too, so I was like, ‘We’re f—–‘.
“People are coming up, and I remember hitting a few people as they’re trying to attack us. Peter runs over to me as I’m hitting somebody, and he goes, ‘James, jump in’.
“I’m there fighting and I’m about to jump in and I’m going, ‘If I jump in we’re all in the cage anyway so I’m f—–, so I’m best having my back to the fence’.
“Peter’s just in there and I turn around to him, ‘Pete watch your man’, he hits someone else, and I was like ‘f— them, let’s just get stuck into them’. So, we got stuck into them.
“We were there with Ali Bagautinov, the flyweight who was in the UFC, so they know people. This army come into the arena, cover us, and march us out of the arena. It was the maddest experience of my life.”
James Gallagher predicts statement performance at 971 FC
While Gallagher will never forget the night Khabib Nurmagomedov’s father had his back, he’s now excited for what’s to come next month, with the 28-year-old intent on producing a massive performance.
He beamed: “I’m absolutely buzzing for it. It’s great from all the guys at 971 FC to get this show together. I think it will be a change of MMA because no other show, bar the UFC, is able to put on this size of a show and bring these types of fighters in.
“You’ve got me, Kane Mousah, Muhammad Mokaev. I feel like it’s going to pop off.
“My opponent is very experienced, he’s a 14-3 Brazilian, good jiu-jitsu and Thai boxing. It’s a very difficult fight for me.
“I’m thankful for the boys, it’s no easy fight. That’s exactly what I train for. I feel like it’s a hard fight that will make me put in that work to go in there and shine.
“It’s going to be that hard of a fight that I’m going to come in razor-sharp and make it look easy.”