Paul Hughes vows to beat Usman Nurmagomedov in title rematch: ‘He won’t get lucky next time’
In a tumultuous day for Irish striker, Paul Hughes, the PFL star remains steadfast in his pursuit of a lightweight title rematch with Usman Nurmagomedov, claiming the unbeaten Russian “won’t get lucky next time” if they are pitted together again.
Hughes, who headlined PFL: Road to Dubai earlier this month in the Middle East, forced the unbeaten, Nurmagomedov the full five round distance in just his second outing in the promotion, finding himself on the wrong side of a controversial and debated majority decision loss.
And vowing to land himself a rematch clash with the Bellator MMA lightweight champion — particularly in a sought-after showdown in Belfast, Hughes claimed this evening during an interview with Ariel Helwani for Uncrowned that Nurmagomedov will not “get lucky” if they share the SmartCage again this year.
Paul Hughes echoes calls for title fight rematch with Usman Nurmagomedov
” Look, they [the Professional Fighters League] have to run it back,” Paul Hughes explained. “How couldn’t you? How couldn’t you run it back? I know Usman (Nurmagomedov) has mentioned he’s not going to want to, he’s going to at least try to get as much time as he can until that happens because he wants to, I guess, hold on to the belt.
“He did say I think he doesn’t want to fight to the end of the year, which is too far away,” Paul Hughes explained. “The momentum of this, it has to happen soon. Obviously, I wanted to be in Belfast, but whether or not that happens, I don’t know. But if he’s not going to fight to the end of the year, then I have to get somebody in Belfast in the summertime. That would be the only thing that would keep me sane right now.”
This evening to boot, Derry favorite, Hughes was involved in a rather deplorable spat with compatriot, Conor McGregor — in which the Dublin striker called into question the Irish identity of the former Cage Warriors kingpin, before labelling him a “c*nt” for speaking with his arch-rival, Khabib Nurmagomedov in the aftermath of his title fight main event.
