Paul Hughes is turning up the pressure on Usman Nurmagomedov.
Hughes (14-2) has been actively pursuing a rematch with Nurmagomedov (19-0) ever since he lost a razor-thin decision to the former Bellator champion at the PFL’s Road to Dubai event in January—a bout widely regarded as the greatest fight in the promotion’s history.
“Big News” rebounded impressively from that defeat last month, knocking out Bruno Miranda in just 42 seconds in front of a sold-out crowd in Belfast. This week, he revealed that he has taken his pursuit a step further by reaching out directly to Nurmagomedov to push for the rematch.
“Look, I always respect the man”, Hughes told MMA Fighting. “I always respect any fighter, especially someone that I've shared the octagon with. So my opinion hasn't changed on him as a man, as a person, whatever. But I know for a fact now that this guy is trying to delay this rematch because I went straight to the fucking source. I texted (him) myself last week. And I was just like, ‘what is going on here? Rematch now?’ And he said, once again, ‘you have to win one more fight, brother.’ So look, straight from the source right there, he's trying to delay this.
“The fight obviously has to happen. Everybody wants this fight to happen. PFL want this to happen. Dubai wants this to happen. The only person that does not want this to happen, very, very clearly right now, is Usman Nurmagomedov, so if a fight does not happen, you know why. I don't believe that is the case. I think it will happen. I think that the PFL and the Dubai government have more leverage than one man. So the fight must happen, and it will happen in September or October this year.
Hughes has skyrocketed to stardom over the past year thanks to a series of standout performances under the PFL banner. The Irishman made a statement in his promotional debut by stopping Bobby King in Dublin last summer, then followed it up by dominating former Bellator champion A.J. McKee at the PFL’s Battle of the Giants event in October.
When he faced the undefeated Nurmagomedov in January, Hughes pushed him closer to defeat than anyone else has managed so far. Now, Hughes believes Nurmagomedov is intentionally delaying a rematch—because he’s afraid of what might happen the second time around.
“He is going to delay this fight for a very clear reason, and that is that he knows that I'm going to get him next time”, Hughes said. “He's felt my energy in there. He knows what's coming for him, and he knows that this is everything to me. I'm not sure if this is everything to him, to be completely honest with you. And his day is coming. As I said in the post-fight interview, he can try to delay this as long as he wants, but his day is coming. The guy's fu**ed. He's fu**ed when I get my hands on him. I am in the gym every single day preparing for this. He has absolutely no idea what is coming for him.”
