[autotag]James Gallagher[/autotag] has a new Bellator 298 opponent following the removal of [autotag]Cris Lencioni[/autotag].
[autotag]James Gonzalez[/autotag], a teammate of UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling, has accepted the bout and will battle Gallagher in a bantamweight matchup Aug. 11 at Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D.
A promotion official with knowledge of the matchup Monday confirmed the booking to MMA Junkie following an initial report by MMA Fighting.
Gonzalez (10-6 MMA, 1-1 BMMA), 32, is a training partner of Sterling’s at Longo and Weidman MMA in Garden City, N.Y. He steps into another opportunity as a likely underdog against a Bellator mainstay, similarly to the time he defeated then-undefeated Cody Law at Bellator 282 in June 2022.
Gallagher (11-2 MMA, 8-2 BMMA) , 26, has not competed since a November 2021 submission loss to Patchy Mix at Bellator 270 in his native Dublin. He pulled out of back-to-back fights due to injury prior to the Lencioni booking.
Lencioni, 28, was recently removed from the bout, as he remains in intensive care following a cardiac arrest suffered during training in early June. The most recent update posted to a GoFundMe account was from June 23. The fundraiser has raised over $27,000 for Lencioni.
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With the change, the Bellator 298 lineup includes:
MAIN CARD (Showtime, 10 p.m. ET)
- Logan Storley vs. Brennan Ward
- Valentin Moldavsky vs. Steve Mowry
- Aaron Jeffery vs. Dalton Rosta
- Islam Mamedov vs. Sidney Outlaw
PRELIMINARY CARD (MMA Junkie, YouTube, 5:30 p.m. ET)
- James Gallagher vs. James Gonzalez
- Weber Almeida vs. Lucas Brennan
- Leandro Higo vs. Nikita Mikhailov
- Diana Avsaragova vs. Justine Kish
- Aalon Cruz vs. Alfie Davis
- Dayana Silva vs. Katerina Shakalova
- Jario Pacheco vs. Max Rohskopf
- Jerrell Hodge vs. Marcirley Alves da Silva
- Michael Blockhus vs. Eli Mefford
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 298.