** Zelg Galešić** (born 16 February 1979) is a Croatian mixed martial artist. A professional competitor who began his career in 2004, he fought for Bellator MMA, Cage Rage, PRIDE, DREAM, UCMMA, the SFL, and K-1 Hero's. He is the former Cage Rage British Middleweight Champion.

Background

Galešić began Tae Kwon Do 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 K-1 Hero's, which he accepted. He lost against Yoon Dong-sik.

DREAM

His first fights with DREAM, in 2008, were victories against Magomed Sultanakhmedov then Taiei Kin. However, in Galešić's most recent fights he has lost to Ronaldo Souza and Kazushi Sakuraba. Having lost to former PRIDE veteran Kazushi Sakuraba, 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 by guillotine choke in the first round. He next competed on India's Super Fight League's third event, SFL 3, against former WEC Light Heavyweight Champion Doug Marshall. He won the fight via KO early into the first round due to a flying knee. Galešić moved to Light Heavyweight in order to compete in the Bellator 2012 Heavyweight Tournament. He was beaten by Attila Vegh at Bellator 71 in the quarter-finals via a submission in the first round. He fought Linton Vassell for UCMMA Light Heavyweight Championship on 2 February 2013. Zelg lost the fight on the ground, by first round TKO.

Kickboxing career

Zelg made his kickboxing debout against #12 Glory ranked fighter Makoto Uehara 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

Kickboxing record

! style=background:white colspan=9 |Kickboxing debut.

Mixed martial arts record