Ireland meets Dagestan for another desert dust-up 

It turns out that some sequels are very much capable of living up to the original.

Paul Hughes and Usman Nurmagomedov delivered yet another classic in the deserts of Dubai, putting on one of the best fights of the year.

Both Irishman Hughes and Dagestan native Nurmagomedov met for the second time tonight – following their instant classic in the Coca-Cola arena in Dubai, UAE in January of this year.

The pair’s first meeting – being contested for the Bellator lightweight world championship – remains arguably the best fight in MMA this year, and has been heralded by fans and media alike as perhaps the single-greatest showcase in the history of the Professional Fighters League (PFL).

Much like tonight (although not quite to the same extent), controversy reigned over the scorecards, with Nurmagomedov ultimately getting the nod ahead of Derry’s Paul Hughes in winning the gold.

Hughes gets rematch – and uses Belfast to campaign

Hughes, of course, campaigned for an immediate rematch, with Nurmagomedov not so keen on rematching straight away. Hughes would then take his campaign to Belfast, Ireland – where he demolished Brazilian Bruno Miranda in just 42 seconds.

“USMAN NURMAGOMEDOV!”, Hughes yelled out to the raucous Belfast crowd.

“You can run, you can try and delay this rematch as long as you want, but your day is f***ing COMING!”

Cue the roof exploding off the SSE Arena, as well as yours truly getting covered in a beer shower.

@pflmma

42 SECONDS IS ALL IT TOOK 😱 WHAT A HOMECOMING FOR PAUL HUGHES! #PFLBelfast | LIVE NOW #pflmma #mma #combatsports #belfast #ireland #paulhughes #knockout #highlights

♬ original sound – PFL MMA

So that brings us about up-to-speed to tonight.

The most hyped rematch in the history of the PFL.

Could “Big News” Hughes avenge his razor-thin defeat in January?

Could Usman truly prove his mettle as the PFL’s very best in the lightweight division?

To put it very simply, the fight played out very similarly to the first one.

Paul would even get kicked twice in the privates for good measure (tut, tut, Keith Peterson).

It was a truly incredibly chess match from round 1 to round 5, with a whole lot of action in-between.

Another FOTY contender – and more controversy

Unfortunately, I fear that yet another FOTY contender has, once again, been ruined by God-awful scoring.

In the spirit of transparency, I had the fight 48-47 to Hughes (biased, I know), but I can more than accept a 48-47 to Usman.

I started wincing slightly when I heard a scorecard of 49-46. “How could a judge have scored the fight so clearly like that?”

But then, we got the true clanger that was dropped – and it came courtesy of judge Bryan Miner.

I have to be honest with you, folks – 50-45 is an absolute abomination of a scorecard.

A brilliant fight was sullied by the scorecards – particularly Bryan Miner’s 50-45 scorecard, which has universally been slammed. (Credit: Nolan King/X)

As I said above, I have no problem with Usman Nurmagomedov getting the decision. It was a razor, razor-thin fight that absolutely could have gone either way – rarely does the internet agree on anything, but even most observers can unite on that point.

But 50-45 is true scoring insanity – and it leaves media and fans alike wondering how on Earth the fight could have been scored in such a manner; it implies that Hughes lost every, single round – which could not have been farther from the truth.

Both fighters represent the best of the PFL

Now, I do have to be fair and admit that there is an area of critique for Paul – and I believe it is the difference between him winning and losing not just tonight’s fight, but the previous fixture in January.

There are small windows and moments where Paul has had Usman hurt several times across both fights – several windows to put Usman up against the cage and use his clear power advantage to simply tee off on him – and potentially do some serious damage.

I do fear that, unlike with previous opponents, Paul’s overcautiousness has been the difference in both fights with Usman.

But both fighters should be incredibly proud of the displays they have produced across both fights.

Usman Nurmagomedov has taken on his toughest challenge (twice), and overcome that hurdle (twice). He is truly the best that the PFL has to offer the world, especially at his weight class.

Both Paul Hughes and Usman Nurmagomedov represent the very best of the PFL – and MMA as a whole. (Image Credit: The Independent)

For Paul Hughes, he still remains one of the biggest stars not just in the PFL, but in the entire world of MMA.

He has travelled to ‘enemy’ territory (twice), and pushed the champion to the upper-most limit (twice). He has also been on the end of some exceptionally poor officiating from Keith Peterson in this second fight, it has to be said.

Even the legendary Khabib Nurmagomedov, to his credit, admitted that Hughes has pushed Nurmagomedov far beyond his ceiling and his limitations in preparing for this fight. Praise does not get any higher, or any more meaningful, than that.

Although Usman leaves with the gold, both men leave as winners in somewhat different ways. Something tells me that these two will cross paths once again in the not-too-distant future.

Just don’t let awful officiating and worse judging ruin something special like this.

Keelin McNamara

[Scratches record] Yeah, that’s me. You’re probably wondering how I ended up here…or not. My name’s Keelin McNamara, and I am an AVID combat sports fan. Always have been, and probably always will be. I started writing and podcasting about MMA in the Summer of 2020 (yeah, we don’t talk about that here either). I’ve been doing it ever since, and have loved every single minute of it! Thanks for checking out whatever it is you’re reading – I hope you enjoy it!