Zelg Galešić (born 16 February 1979) is a Croatian

mixed martial artist Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting sport based on striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-stylistic contests took place t ...

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

Bellator MMA Bellator MMA (formerly Bellator Fighting Championships) was an American mixed martial arts promotion (entertainment), promotion founded in 2008 by Bjorn Rebney and operated until 2025. The promotion takes its name from ''wikt:bellator, bellātor ...

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 a human Emotion, secondary emotion characterized by a sense of satisfaction with one's Identity (philosophy), identity, performance, or accomplishments. It is often considered the opposite of shame or of humility and, depending on conte ...

DREAM A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensation (psychology), 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 ...

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 collap ...

, 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 (; ; ) is a Korean martial art and combat sport involving primarily kicking techniques and punching. "Taekwondo" can be translated as ''tae'' ("strike with foot"), ''kwon'' ("strike with hand"), and ''do'' ("the art or way"). In a ...

when he was ten 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 against

Yoon Dong-sik Yoon Dong-Sik (, born August 24, 1972, in Seoul), often anglicised to Dong-Sik Yoon, is a South Korean judoka, and mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist. Career Judo Before competing in MMA, Yoon was a well-known judoka with over 50 int ...

DREAM

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

Taiei Kin Kin Taiei (; born July 8, 1970) is a Korean-Japanese light heavyweight karateka, kickboxer and mixed martial artist competing in K-1 and DREAM. Before switching to MMA, Kin was a distinguished fighter in the K-1, praised by both Peter Aerts ...

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

Ronaldo Souza Ronaldo Souza dos Santos (born 7 December 1979), nicknamed " Jacaré" (), is a Brazilian former professional mixed martial artist, submission grappler and 4th degree Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt. Souza was a multiple time BJJ World ch ...

and

Kazushi Sakuraba is a Japanese professional wrestler, submission wrestling, submission wrestler and former mixed martial artist, currently signed to Pro Wrestling NOAH, Pro Wrestling Noah, where he was formerly one-half of the former GHC Tag Team Championship, G ...

. 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 he lost to

Alexander Shlemenko Alexander Pavlovich Shlemenko (, born 20 May 1984) is a Russian mixed martial artist currently fighting in the Middleweight division. He is most notable for fighting for Bellator Fighting Championships, where he is the former Bellator Middlew ...

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

Super Fight League Super Fight League was 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 co-owned by British-Indian businessman Bill Dosanjh and British boxin ...

'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 Pa ...

. 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 (attack), 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. ...

. Galešić moved to

Light Heavyweight Light heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the division is above and up to , falling between super middleweight and cruiserweight (boxing), cruiserweight. The light heavyweight class has ...

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 i ...

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 currently competes in the Heavyweight division of the PFL. A professional since 2008, he has also competed for UCMMA and Cage Warriors. He is the former UCMMA Light Heav ...

for UCMMA Light Heavyweight Championship on 2 February 2013. Zelg lost the fight on the ground, by first round

TKO A technical knockout (TKO) is a professional fighting term. TKO may also refer to: Sports * TKO, the name of a professional wrestling move referring to either the cutter or stunner variant * TKO Group Holdings, a combat sports company Music Ar ...

Kickboxing career

Zelg made his kickboxing debout against #12 Glory ranked fighter

Makoto Uehara Makoto Uehara (; 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 ''K-1 World ...

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 former mixed martial artist who competed in the Heavyweight (MMA), heavyweight division. A professional competitor from 1999 to 2019, he competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, UFC, ...

, Submission (armbar) ,

Final Fight Championship Final Fight Championship (FFC) is an international combat sports promoter (entertainment), promotion company founded in 2003 by the FFC owner and CEO Orsat Zovko. The company has its headquarters in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, as well as a European ...

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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, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

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Hollywood, Florida Hollywood is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. It is a suburb in the Miami metropolitan area. The population of Hollywood was 153,067 as of 2020, making it the Broward County#Communities, third-largest city in Broward County, th ...

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Yokohama is the List of cities in Japan, second-largest city in Japan by population as well as by area, and the country's most populous Municipalities of Japan, municipality. It is the capital and most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a popu ...

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Makoto Takimoto is a Japanese retired 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 Summer Olymp ...

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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 for ...

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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 sportsmen