Fight Week Arrives For Paul Hughes And The PFL
With the first UFC pay-per-view event of 2025 now firmly in the rearview mirror, the eyes of the MMA world turn towards Dubai where Ireland’s Paul Hughes (13-1) will take on Dagestan’s Usman Nurmagomedov (18-0) in the main event at the PFL’s Road to Dubai: Champions Series event this coming Saturday.
Hughes first publicly called for the fight against Bellator lightweight champion Nurmagomedov after upsetting the odds and beating A.J. McKee at the PFL’s Battle of the Giants event in Saudi Arabia in October.
“We all know who we want to see next” exclaimed “Big News” during his post-fight interview inside the PFL smartcage. “We want to see Ireland vs. Dagestan number two, we want to see Paul Hughes vs. Usman Nurmagomedov for the Bellator lightweight belt and i think we should do it in Dubai!”
Digging Up Old Wounds
The passion-filled promo Hughes cut that night evoked memories of the infamous Conor McGregor/Khabib Nurmagomedov rivalry that wound up with Khabib (Usman’s cousin and coach) submitting the Notorious at UFC 229 back in 2018.
The PFL leaned heavily into the Ireland vs. Dagestan narrative by interviewing “The Eagle” and then releasing clips of him berating the standard of Irish MMA fighters.
Paul Hughes fired back immediately via social media as he replied “Just wait until I get my hands on your boy.”
Can’t wait to prove everyone wrong, once again 🏆 https://t.co/wnRmeCWbif
— Paul Hughes MMA (@paulhughesmma) January 6, 2025
“I Don’t Really Give A Flying F*** “
Now, a few weeks removed from the incident and with the biggest fight of his career looming this Saturday, Hughes is unfazed by Khabib’s criticism of Irish fighters.
“Honestly? I really didn’t care that much” said the 27-year-old during a recent exclusive interview with MMA Sucka. “It didn’t take me aback too much. I was just chilling with a mate at the time that I hadn’t seen in a long time, and I looked at it, seen my phone and set it back down
“It is what it is. I didn’t know how much that was going to blow up. Obviously it has and that’s really good for marketing. I don’t take anything like that personally.
“This is the fight business” he continued. “This is the fight game so, I mean, he can say what he wants. That’s probably his actual feelings, I don’t really give a flying f*** what his thoughts and feelings are to be completely honest.
“I mean, I respect the guy. He was a fantastic champion (and a) great fighter. I’m not a huge fan of his, I never was so I don’t really care too much about what he says so…whatever”.
UFC 311 is in the history books but it’s Monday, so it’s fight week again. @paulhughesmma will be aiming to inflict a second defeat of 2025 on Team Nurmagomedov this Saturday in the @PFLMMA main event in Dubai 🇮🇪 pic.twitter.com/Bl3a9BdVys
— Paul Browne (@PaulBrowneMMA) January 20, 2025
Paul Hughes Ready To Fulfil His Destiny
Khabib was in the corner of Usman Nurmagomedov’s older brother Umar on Saturday night at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood as the Dagestani bantamweight came up short in his UFC title fight against Merab Dvalishvili.
Umar went into that fight unbeaten at 18-0 (an identical professional record to that of Usman) only to be outclassed by “The Machine” who came into UFC 311 as underdog, and Hughes has promised to exact the same fight on Usman in Dubai this weekend.
“I absolutely foresee a knockout” predicted Hughes. “I think it’s my destiny to knock him out next weekend…to just rise to superstardom of the MMA sphere. I can feel it within my bones, I can feel it within this preparation.”
Having prepared dilligently at both his home base in Fight Academy Ireland and at the world class training facilities at Kill Cliff FC, Hughes believes he is ready to show the world once again that he is not a fighter to be underestimated.
“Everything is just going right and i think that this is just my time to really, really make my mark in this sport” promised the Derry native. “Not just (to) become the Bellator lightweight champion and one of the faces of PFL…probably THE face, but to be one of the biggest superstars in this sport and to forge my own pathway in this sport, to trailblaze my own way. That’s what I foreseen whenever I made the decision to come here to the PFL so that’s where I’m at with it all”.
Paul Hughes vs. Usman Nurmagomedov goes down this Saturday 25th January at the Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.