Paul Hughes is pissed.
In January, Hughes and Usman Nurmagomedov placed on an absolute barnburner that noticed the latter escape with a majority determination victory, retaining his Bellator light-weight title within the course of.
Contemplating how ridiculously aggressive and entertaining the battle was, everybody anticipated the PFL to announce a right away rematch. As a substitute, Hughes was compelled to exit and get one other win, and that’s precisely what he did, starching Bruno Miranda simply 42 seconds into their PFL Europe 1 headliner final month in Belfast.
The victory seemingly cemented Hughes’ standing because the No. 1 ranked contender, however in accordance with Nurmagomedov, the Irishman must exit and get one other W.
“I do know for a truth now that this man is attempting to delay this rematch,” Hughes advised MMA Preventing. “As a result of I went straight to the f*cking supply. I texted him myself final week and I used to be identical to what’s going on? Rematch now. He mentioned as soon as once more ‘you must win yet one more battle, brother.’ So look, straight from the supply proper there, he’s attempting to delay this.”
Hughes has been nothing however respectful to Nurmagomedov and his group, which incorporates UFC Corridor of Famer and former light-weight titleholder Khabib Nurmagomedov, however his persistence his rapidly sporting skinny.
“I used to be fed up. I’m fed up with all his bullshit,” Hughes mentioned. “I’ll as nicely go straight to the supply. From what he mentioned final week, he mentioned, ‘you’ve acquired to win yet one more battle, brother,’ and on the finish of the day, he’s not the f*cking boss. This battle’s taking place.”
Paul Hughes nonetheless Planning for Nurmagomedov Rematch This Fall
Regardless of all of the drama, Hughes is assured that the PFL will put collectively the sequel scrap, whether or not Nurmagomedov desires it or not.
“The battle clearly has to occur,” Hughes mentioned. “All people desires this battle to occur. PFL desires this battle to occur. Dubai desires this to occur. The one individual that doesn’t need this to occur, very, very clearly proper now, is Usman Nurmagomedov.
“If the battle doesn’t occur, you realize why. However I don’t imagine that’s the case. I believe it can occur. I believe the PFL and the Dubai authorities have extra leverage than one man. So the battle should occur and it’ll occur in September or October this 12 months.”
Curiously, the PFL lately introduced that its June 20 occasion in Wichita will function a battle between Mansour Barnaoui and Archie Colgan. The promotion additionally revealed that “the winner of this battle turns into the No. 1 contender for the PFL light-weight world title and might be subsequent in line to face present champion Usman Nurmagomedov.”
Evidently, Hughes was not amused.
“Hey, stop with the fad bait,” Hughes wrote on X in response.
