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Davy Gallon hopes viral rolling thunder KO of Ross Pearson leads to UFC, Bellator interest
A few days have passed, but Davy Gallon hasn’t wrapped his head around the finish to his most recent fight.
For almost nine years, Gallon (18-7-2) has competed professionally against a who’s who of European notables. Last Saturday, Gallon finally achieved something he wasn’t able to through his first 26 pro fights. He elevated himself to the forefront of MMA’s mainstream discussion.
With the clock winding down in his three-round bout against UFC veteran Ross Pearson, the French fighter threw a rolling thunder kick – a maneuver normally thrown but rarely, if ever, landed at the end of rounds. The kick cracked across Pearson’s dome, and he was knocked out on impact.
It didn’t take long for the kick to go viral. Since Saturday, hundreds, maybe even thousands, of the world’s top online publications have posted replays of the kick. Gallon is in awe.
“I’ve fought eight or nine years since I started MMA,” Gallon told MMA Junkie on Wednesday. “Just to see everybody loved the fight and the millions of views, it’s really motivating. It’s crazy. I’ve trained a lot – a lot of years. It’s the fulfillment of evening training (sessions) I’ve done for many years. It’s really crazy.”
Just in case there was any doubt: The kick wasn’t “lucky.” It wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment impulse that just happened to land, no. Gallon had planned for this. So much so that one day prior, Gallon and his team mapped out the exact moment he’d throw it – with less than a minute left in the third round.
“I’ve only hit it in training,” Gallon said. “I saw a kyokushin video on YouTube, and I tried maybe once or twice in training. I was in the hotel room the day before the fight with my coach. I said, ‘Oh coach, come on. I want to try this kick.’ He told me, ‘You know it’s Ross Pearson? It’s a good guy. It’s a big fighter, you know?’ I said yeah, and he told me, ‘Okay, you can try the kick. But you have to do it at the end of the fight.’”
And that’s exactly what Gallon did. Throughout the fight, Gallon gauged Pearson’s tiredness through fakes and feints. When Pearson began overreacting to his takedown threats, Gallon capitalized.
“One time, I tried to shoot (on) him, and he was reacting at my shot,” Gallon said. “At the end of the fight, I tried a jab and a shot. His hand came down. I was like, ‘OK, it’s time.’ Then, I do this heel kick, and it goes ‘boom’ right on his head. When I got up on my feet, I thought he was just blocking the kick, and I watched him go ‘boom’ on his back. I said ‘woah’ in my head. It was crazy.”
The publicity and the fame is great. However, the “visibility” is what Gallon sees as most beneficial. He hopes his newfound fame will earn him a shot in the UFC or Bellator.
“I’ve been doing this for nine years but have never had this crazy visibility,” Gallon said. “Just to take the fight against Ross Pearson. Many guys told me he’s a big guy and a strong guy. With this knockout against Ross Pearson, it’s everyone going mad. I’ve got a big visibility now.
“I hope all the work I did before will get more crazy with something like UFC or Bellator. Give me my chance and opportunity to fight a big fight against a big opponent. It’d be cool to do the same kick – only in the UFC cage.”
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