LAS VEGAS, Nevada — Resurrection Fighting Alliance (RFA) announced Thursday afternoon that RFA 4 will feature yet another exciting bout in its talent-rich bantamweight division. The bout will pair local favorite Jerry Shapiro against Chicago native Cory Galloway. The bout is scheduled to take place on the undercard of RFA 4 on Friday, November 2nd in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Shapiro is a brown belt in jiu-jitsu under ADCC veterans and jiu-jitsu black belts Marc Laimon and Sim Go at Cobra Kai in Las Vegas. He also supplements his grappling background by learning the stand-up game from one of the best strikers in the world. That would be none other than UFC and PRIDE veteran Gilbert Yvel, who is scheduled to fight in the main event of RFA 4.
Shapiro also credits Mark Bieri and the rest of the guys at Cobra Kai and Xtreme Couture, as his main training partners. After training in the grappling arts for three years, Shapiro decided to jump into MMA in 2009. On the local MMA scene, he quickly became a fan favorite by winning all 5 of his amateur bouts. That included winning a Tuff-N-Uff 4-man bantamweight tournament and the Tuff-N-Uff bantamweight title. At RFA 4, Shapiro will be making his highly-anticipated professional MMA debut.
His opponent will be a man who is no stranger to success or the grapppling game. Galloway possesses a solid grappling pedigree of his own, as he trains under jiu-jitsu black belt and UFC veteran Jeff Curran. The Chicago native’s family also owns Galloway’s Chicago Subs, so Galloway will be ready for any kind of sub Shapiro may throw at him, whether it’s grappling related or food related. All kidding aside, Galloway is a Bellator veteran that will be coming into this fight fresh off a submission win that he just earned at XFO 45 twelve days ago.
RFA 4 is set to be headlined by a light-heavyweight showdown pitting former UFC and PRIDE star Gilbert "The Hurricane" Yvel against former UFC and ADCC star Marcio "Pe De Pano" Cruz. The co-main event will feature two former UFC lightweight stars, as Tyson Griffin meets Efrain Escudero. These fights and more will take place at the Dallas Event Center inside Texas Station Gambling Hall & Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.