Conor McGregor congratulates Paul Hughes as Irish fighter causes PFL upset
Hughes pulled off an upset win against AJ McKee in Saudi Arabia on Saturday night.
Conor McGregor was among those who congratulated Paul Hughes after his upset victory over AJ McKee on Saturday night.
Hughes was not favoured going into the bout but impressed in his split decision win, improving his professional record to 13-1.
It was a risky fight for Hughes to take, just two fights removed from his Cage Warrior days, but it is a move that will catapult him up the MMA rankings and put him on the verge of a title shot.
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The 27-year-old admitted he was uncertain about the result when fighting, saying: "It's hard when you're the one fighting to know the score. Judging by the energy around the arena, everyone I was looking at, and AJ's face, it was pretty clear I won that one.
"There wasn't once he nearly got me out of there, but I nearly got him out of there a few times."
The Northern Ireland man admitted he took a considerable risk in taking the fight, saying: "The PFL believed in me and look at me now. I'm here on the world stage. I took a risk and fought one of the best guys on the planet and here I am a young kid from rural Ireland on the big stage. I believed.
"I didn't have the best training camp coming into this, but I tried to put that out of my mind to deliver. I had to dig down deep for you all tonight to get that win."
Hughes also made it clear he wants to fight Bellator Lightweight Champion Usman Nurmagomedov, the cousin of UFC legend Khabib Nurmagomedov.
"One more thing, at the end of the day, we all know who we want to see next; we want to see Ireland versus Dagestan. We want to see Paul Hughes versus Usman Nurmagomedov for the belt, and I think we should do it in Dubai or else let's bring it to Belfast."
Conor McGregor, who is Hughes's close friend, congratulated him by saying: "What a mega win for “Big News” @paulhughesmma ! Solidified! Bravo bro, well in!"
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