Zelg Galešić (born 16 February 1979) is a Croatian

mixed martial artist Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incorp ...

. A professional competitor who began his career in 2004, he fought for

Bellator MMA Bellator MMA (formerly Bellator Fighting Championships) is an American mixed martial arts promotion (entertainment), promotion founded in 2008 and based in Santa Monica, California, owned and operated as a subsidiary of television and media cong ...

Cage Rage Cage Rage Championships, also known as Cage Rage, was a United Kingdom-based, mixed martial arts promotion that premiered on 7 September 2002 in London. Cage Rage went into liquidation and is now no longer trading. Cage Rage had been owned and ma ...

PRIDE Pride is defined by Merriam-Webster as "reasonable self-esteem" or "confidence and satisfaction in oneself". A healthy amount of pride is good, however, pride sometimes is used interchangeably with "conceit" or "arrogance" (among other words) wh ...

DREAM A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around 5 to 20 minutes, althou ...

UCMMA Ultimate Challenge MMA (also referred to as UCMMA) is a mixed martial arts promotion based in the United Kingdom. It is shown live on London Live in the UK, Fight Now TV in the US and on Viewster in several other countries. History The collapse ...

, the SFL, and

K-1 Hero's Hero's was a Japanese mixed martial arts promotion operated by Fighting and Entertainment Group, the parent entity behind kickboxing organization K-1. Grown from and branched off of K-1's earlier experiments in MMA, including the ''K-1 Romanex' ...

. He is the former Cage Rage British Middleweight Champion.

Background

Galešić began

Tae Kwon Do ''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean martial arts, Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast k ...

when he was 10 years old and is a master of the sport, being a three-time ITF European Champion, two-time ITF World Champion, and two-time ITC Full Contact World Champion. He was undefeated in amateur rules in the UK at the Combat Sports Open Trials, where all but one of his fights were won in under a minute.

Mixed martial arts career

Early career

His first professional MMA bout was on 12 September 2004 at Ultimate Combat 11: Wrath of the Beast, where he won against Jim Bentley when the referee stopped the fight after 16 seconds. On 30 August 2007, while Cage Rage British Middleweight Champion, he was made an offer to fight for

, which he accepted. He lost his only fight with them, against Yoon Dong-sik.

DREAM

His first fights with DREAM, in 2008, were victories against Magomed Sultanakhmedov then

Taiei Kin Kin Taiei ( ko, 김태영, Hanja: ; born July 8, 1970) is a Korean-Japanese light heavyweight karateka, kickboxer and mixed martial artist competing in K-1 and DREAM. He's also a karate instructor and a trainer for professional fighters. His ...

. However, in Galešić's most recent fights he has lost to

Ronaldo Souza Ronaldo Souza dos Santos (born December 7, 1979), nicknamed " Jacare" (), is a Brazilian former mixed martial artist and submission grappler who competed for UFC from 2013 to 2021. A highly regarded grappler on the world s ...

and

Kazushi Sakuraba is a Japanese professional wrestler, mixed martial artist and submission wrestler, currently signed to Rizin Fighting Federation and Pro Wrestling Noah, where he was formerly one-half of the former GHC Tag Team Champions with Takashi Sugiura. ...

. Having lost to former PRIDE veteran

, Galešić took 15 months off. He returned to fight on Liverpool's OMMAC promotion, where he took on a local fighter, Lee Chadwick. Galešić won the fight with a knockout in the first round.

Bellator

Galešić competed in the eight man Bellator Season 5 Middleweight Tournament. In the quarter-finals at

Bellator 50 2011 in Bellator MMA was the fourth installment of the Bellator Fighting Championships. Mixed martial arts tournaments were held in multiple weight classes, including three of the original tournament classes: Welterweight, Lightweight and Feather ...

he lost to

Alexander Shlemenko Alexander Pavlovich Shlemenko (russian: Александр Павлович Шлеменко, born 20 May 1984) is a Russian mixed martial artist currently fighting in the Middleweight (MMA), Middleweight division. He is most notable for fighti ...

by guillotine choke in the first round. He next competed on India's

Super Fight League Super Fight League is a mixed martial arts promotion, based in India. The organisation was formed in 2012 by actor Sanjay Dutt and British-Indian businessman Raj Kundra, and is currently co-owned by British-Indian businessman Bill Dosanjh and ...

's third event, SFL 3, against former WEC Light Heavyweight Champion

Doug Marshall Douglas Garrett Marshall (born February 3, 1977) is an American former professional mixed martial artist. A professional competitor from 2003 until 2014, Marshall has fought in Bellator, Tachi Palace Fights, the Super Fight League, and the Pala ...

. He won the fight via KO early into the first round due to a

flying knee A knee strike (commonly referred to simply as a knee) is a strike with the knee, either with the kneecap or the surrounding area. Kneeing is a disallowed practice in many combat sports, especially to the head of a downed opponent. Styles such as ...

. Galešić moved to

Light Heavyweight Light heavyweight, also referred to as junior cruiserweight or light cruiserweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the division is above and up to , falling between super middleweight and cruise ...

in order to compete in the Bellator 2012 Heavyweight Tournament. He was beaten by Attila Vegh at

Bellator 71 2012 in Bellator MMA was the sixth installment of the Bellator Fighting Championships, which began on March 9, 2012. The sixth season of Bellator was originally scheduled to begin on March 2, 2012. However, the debut was pushed back a week so ...

in the quarter finals via a submission in the first round. He fought

Linton Vassell Linton Vassell (born 3 June 1983) is an English mixed martial artist, who competes in the Heavyweight division of Bellator. A professional since 2008, he has also competed for UCMMA and Cage Warriors. He is the former UCMMA Light Heavyweight ...

for UCMMA Light Heavyweight Championship on 2 February 2013. Zelg opened the fight with few punches and kicks and proved that he is still great puncher but Vassell moved the fight on the ground and won the fight by 1st round TKO.

Kickboxing career

Zelg made his kickboxing debout against #12 Glory ranked fighter

Makoto Uehara Makoto Uehara ( ja, 上原誠; born November 14, 1984) is a Japanese Shidokan Karateka and heavyweight kickboxer competing in K-1. He is the former RISE Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight champion. Biography and career He faced Hiromi Amada ...

at the R.I.S.E. 100 event on 12 June 2014. He dropped Uehara early in round one with punches and knees but rushed it and lost by KO at 1:25 of the first round.

Championships and accomplishments

** Cage Rage British Middleweight Championship (1 Time) *

** 2008 DREAM Middleweight Grand Prix Semifinalist

Kickboxing record

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Mixed martial arts record

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Ricco Rodriguez Ricco Rodriguez (born August 19, 1977) is an American semi-retired mixed martial artist currently competing in the heavyweight division. A professional competitor since 1999, he has competed for the UFC, PRIDE Fighting Championships, EliteXC, I ...

, Submission (armbar) ,

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Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

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DREAM 12 ''Dream 12'' was a mixed martial arts event promoted by Fighting and Entertainment Group's mixed martial arts promotion Dream that took place on October 25, 2009 in Osaka, Japan. The event marked the first time Dream used a hexagon cage. Fights c ...

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Makoto Takimoto is a retired Japanese judoka and mixed martial artist from Nihon University. He won a gold medal at the Half Middleweight category of the 2000 Summer Olympics. __TOC__ Judo career Takimoto was relatively unknown entering the 2000 Su ...

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PRIDE 34 ''Pride 34: Kamikaze'' was a mixed martial arts event held by Pride Fighting Championships on April 8, 2007 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. Background This was the last Pride show promoted by Dream Stage Entertainment before the ...

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Mark Weir Mark Anthony Weir (19 September 1967) is an English retired mixed martial artist usually fighting in the middleweight division at 185 lbs. He has fought in the UFC, the WEC, PRIDE, Cage Rage, UCMMA, Pancrase, and BodogFIGHT. He is the fo ...

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References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Galesic, Zelg 1979 births Living people Croatian male mixed martial artists Middleweight mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists utilizing taekwondo Croatian male taekwondo practitioners Sportspeople from Pula 21st-century Croatian people