Paul Hughes understands the hype surrounding Bellator lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov ahead of their fight at PFL Dubai on Saturday.
With an undefeated 18-0 (1 NC) record including two title defenses, the 26-year-old Russian has been touted as the future of the sport with his coach and cousin Khabib Nurmagomedov stating that he believes Usman could end up as one of the top-5 fighters to ever compete in MMA by the time his career is over. Hughes can’t say if statements like that are just meant to build up his opponent or if there really is that much belief about Nurmagomedov’s potential, but that only raises the stakes for their fight.
“Whether or not they’re just trying to hype him up or whether or not he is that [good], there’s plenty of tape on him,” Hughes said when speaking to MMA Fighting. “I’ve studied him a lot. I know where is weaknesses are. I know how to utilize my game plan to expose those weaknesses. It’s a different game when you’re fighting me. It’s the same thing that happened with A.J. [McKee]. Doing all the studying it’s like this guy does this, this guy does that, he’s having success here, but me and my team always watch it together and go ‘it isn’t me, though.’ It isn’t me.
“I just know my game and I know how to get my game going. So when it comes to someone like Usman, yeah, he’s looked incredible and he’s fought and beat very good guys but they’re not me. I move differently. I’m so high level. I’m elite, elite, elite in the MMA game. The in-betweens is where I excel and where I can expose this guy. That’s good that they’re saying that because when I beat him, it’s going to be all that more impressive.”
In preparation for the fight, Hughes says he’s watched as much footage on Nurmagomedov as possible and he’s not going to make false statements claiming the undefeated Russian is somehow overrated or not that good just because they’re now scheduled to fight.
If anything, Hughes believes Nurmagomedov is just as good as advertised and has used that to his advantage to intimidate many of his past opponents. A ferocious wrestler with incredible control, Nurmagomedov has an innate ability to drown his opponents and break their will with repeated takedowns before smothering them on the ground.
Hughes expects Nurmagomedov to come after him with much the same strategy, but he promises the results are going to be different this time around.
“[This fight] gives me five rounds to put a f*cking pace on him that he cannot withstand,” Hughes said. “Have him shooting for the jocks early, sprawl on him, keep the pressure on him just like I did A.J. I’m going to walk this guy down 100 percent. I know that I can knock him out but if I have to, I know I can bring him to the depths of hell, which is somewhere that he hasn’t been.
“Nobody has been putting that pressure on him. Most people fight him with fear. Nurmagomedov. Wrestler. This, that. He is dangerous. I am not going to fight this man with fear. I’m going to put fear into him early and I will walk him down and I will 100 percent get him out of there before the end of five rounds.”
In many ways, Hughes is facing a similar situation as his most recent fight when he defeated former Bellator champion A.J. McKee in just his second appearance with the PFL. McKee has long been touted as one of the best fighters in the world and it almost seemed inevitable that he would eventually clash with Nurmagomedov.
Hughes changed all that when he thwarted McKee’s plans and then earned a title fight of his own against Nurmagomedov on Saturday. The narrative that this is too much, too soon surrounded Hughes going into the fight against McKee and it’s almost identical for his showdown with Nurmagomedov — and he loves it.
“[The win over A.J. McKee] silenced a lot of people but when it comes to Usman, it’s a different thing,” Hughes said. “People now know I’m a legit contender and I’m not just that young prospect anymore. I’m one of the best in the world, which is what I was saying for a long time now.
“I think with Usman though, people are going to be like ‘but he can’t wrestle. Nobody’s wrestling him, nobody’s taking him down so Usman’s going to smash him as he’s smashed basically everybody else he’s fought.’ But just wait until they see once again.”
