It's something every Irish schoolboy dreams of doing, but James Gallagher stood up in class one day and informed his teacher that he had had enough, and it was time to focus on chasing his dreams.
Granted, the fantasy for most Irish schoolboys isn't to chase their dreams, rather just to get up and leave school, but The Stabanimal was on a mission from an early age.
Coming off of a victorious Bellator debut which he himself was not overly satisfied with, James Gallagher was a guest on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani on Monday where, aside from delivering on a promise that he made two years ago to the day, he discussed the moment he stood up and announced that he was done with school and was going to put his life into MMA.
One day I walked into school and it was a half-day, the teacher gave me a load of work and I was just back from training at 6.30 that morning, then into school at 9.
I was tired and I was just like "I'm not doin' this."
And the teacher started giving out to me and going mad at me and I just stood up and was like "I'm done, I've had enough. I can't handle this any more I just want to train."
And I got up and walked home and my parents were like "What are you doing back? School's not over." And I just explained that I couldn't do it anymore and they understood. They've got my back in everything, my parents do.
They sound like the most incredibly supportive parents, and like no Irish parents we've ever heard of. Most would be terrified of the reaction that their parents would give to such a scenario, but Gallagher's clearly knew that their boy was something special.
In fact, James' Dad was in his corner at Bellator 158, so it's great to see them involved in his career, the same career that The Stabanimal is desperate to use to repay their faith.
He's off to a good start, so it's well worth keeping an eye on his progress.
Gallagher was speaking on The MMA Hour, which you can watch in full below:
