Bellator 258 has taken a hit.
Rising Irish star [autotag]James Gallagher[/autotag] is out of his bantamweight fight against former title challenger [autotag]Patchy Mix[/autotag] for undisclosed reasons. The fight was scheduled for the promotion’s May 7 main card.
A promotion official confirmed Friday to MMA Junkie the matchup had fallen through after Mix (13-1 MMA, 2-1 BMMA) alluded to needing a new opponent. The promotion is actively seeking a replacement.
As a result, a scheduled lightweight fight between [autotag]Patricky Freire[/autotag] and [autotag]Peter Queally[/autotag] has been elevated to the main card.
“As expected the boy went f*cking running SMH,” Mix wrote on his personal Facebook page. “This (expletive) never wanted to be locked up in the cage w me,” he added.
Out of his last four scheduled fights, only one has gone through for Gallagher. Two fights (including this one) he withdrew from due to injury. A third was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. Gallagher, 24, is on a four-fight winning streak dating back to his lone career loss to Ricky Bandejas in August 2018.
As for Mix, he most recently came up short in a vacant title challenge unanimous decision loss to Juan Archuleta at Bellator 246 in September. It was only the fourth time Mix went the distance as a professional. The other 10 fights, he ended inside the distance.
With the change the Bellator 258 lineup now includes:
MAIN CARD (Showtime, 9 p.m. ET)
- Champion Juan Archuleta vs. Sergio Pettis – for bantamweight title
- Anthony Johnson vs. Yoel Romero – light heavyweight grand prix quarterfinal
- Derek Anderson vs. Michael Page
- Patricky Freire vs. Peter Queally
PRELIMS (MMA Junkie, 6 p.m. ET)
- Patchy Mix vs. TBA
- Josh Hill vs. Raufeon Stots
- Weber Almeida vs. Johnny Soto
- Johnny Campbell vs. Henry Corrales
- Johnny Eblen vs. Daniel Madrid
- Bryce Logan vs. Alan Omer
- Hannah Guy vs. Valerie Loureda
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