Paul Hughes is confident that he should have been announced as the winner of the main event in Dubai this past Saturday night.
At the debut of the PFL Champions Series at the Coca-Cola Arena, the Irishman went toe-to-toe with the Bellator lightweight champion, Usman Nurmagomedov.
A brilliant match-up on paper resulted in a fantastic contest with Hughes really testing the champion over the five round duration.
Despite "Big News" having a lot of success in the bout, he was unable to hand the champion the first loss of his pro career after the result went the way of Nurmagomedov via majority decision with one judge scoring it as a draw.
In the aftermath of the fight, Hughes posted a video on his Instagram profile where he gave his initial thoughts on the outcome and why he believes that he deserved to get his hand raised:
“Obviously, as always, I’m going to have to watch it back to get a good assessment and a clear-minded assessment, but as we know, we all thought I won that one,” Hughes said. “I think the judges’ scorecards were pretty ridiculous, but as I say, I’ll watch it back with a clear mind. I’m just judging from the energy of the arena and everyone surrounding the cage. I thought it was mine.
“I’m not going to make excuses though. I should’ve pushed harder. I should’ve pushed harder and I will the next time. I know we’ll fight again.
“It felt like the stoppage in the fourth round with the head clash changed the momentum of the fight. I feel like I was breaking him. I was ripping him so hard to the body and I felt him wheezing. I knew my momentum was coming up and I would have emptied the tank, but that changed the kind of flow and he got good recovery. Which, look, the headbutt was a headbutt. It was accidental. He has all the right to take that recovery.
“I’m obviously disappointed. I’m gutted, I really am. I’m proud of myself, but I do need to get that back. I need to get that back. I deserve to have that belt, soon.”
