Paul Hughes reveals infuriating text exchange with Usman Nurmagomedov: ‘I’m fed up with all his bullsh*t’

Paul Hughes is getting sick and tired of Usman Nurmagomedov moving the goal posts when it comes to a rematch between them.

Back in January, the lightweights put on one of the best fights of the year with Nurmagomedov barely escaping with a majority decision won after Hughes pushed him to the break of his first defeat. There were calls for an immediate rematch but Nurmagomedov insisted that Hughes needed to get another win before they could meet again so that’s exactly what he did.

Hughes sparked veteran lightweight Bruno Miranda in just 42 seconds in May in a homecoming fight held in Belfast that seemingly cemented his spot as the No. 1 contender. Rather than wait for the PFL, Hughes decided to go directly to Nurmagomedov to play matchmaker and he didn’t appreciate the response he received.

“I know for a fact now that this guy is trying to delay this rematch,” Hughes told MMA Fighting. “Because I went straight to the f*cking source. I texted him myself last week and I was just like what is going on? Rematch now.

“He said once again ‘you have to win one more fight, brother.’ So look, straight from the source right there, he’s trying to delay this.”

On the night of their first fight, Hughes showed respect to Nurmagomedov and his team, which included UFC Hall of Famer Khabib Nurmagomedov, who spoke very highly about the Irish lightweight and his efforts to dethrone his cousin.

While he has no regrets about that encounter, Hughes admits the aftermath of the fight and Nurmagomedov now insisting that he gets a second win before booking the rematch has him getting a little more fired up about this whole situation.

“I was fed up. I’m fed up with all his bullshit,” Hughes said. “I may as well go straight to the source. From what he said last week, he said ‘you’ve got to win one more fight, brother’ and at the end of the day, he’s not the f*cking boss. This fight’s happening.”

As much as Nurmagomedov might want him to win another fight, Hughes knows he did his job when he vanquished Miranda in less than a minute. While he would have preferred the immediate rematch, the 28-year-old lightweight didn’t blink when the PFL put him into a different fight instead, especially with the chance to headline a card at home in Ireland.

But Hughes knows that win should be more than enough to set up perhaps the most highly anticipated rematch in PFL history no matter what Nurmagomedov has to say about it.

“The fight obviously has to happen,” Hughes said. “Everybody wants this fight to happen. PFL wants this fight to happen. Dubai wants this to happen. The only person that does not want this to happen, very, very clearly right now, is Usman Nurmagomedov.

“If the fight does not happen, you know why. But I don’t believe that is the case. I think it will happen. I think the PFL and the Dubai government have more leverage than one man. So the fight must happen and it will happen in September or October this year.”

After revealing that he had this text exchange with Nurmagomedov a few days ago, Hughes saw the PFL announce Mansour Barnaoui vs. Archie Colgan booked for June 20 with the additional caveat stating “the winner of this fight becomes the No. 1 contender for the PFL lightweight world title and will be next in line to face current champion Usman Nurmagomedov.”

It’s safe to say that didn’t go over well with Hughes.

“Hey, quit with the rage bait,” Hughes wrote on Twitter.

No matter what’s being promoted, Hughes is confident that the PFL is going to come through with the rematch and there’s nothing Nurmagomedov can do about it.

“He’s trying to delay this fight. It’s that clear,” Hughes said. “He probably shouldn’t have texted me back to be honest. He is going to delay this fight for a very clear reason. That is that he knows I’m going get him next time. He’s felt my energy in there. He knows I’m coming for him. He knows this is everything to me. I’m not sure if this is everything to him, to be completely honest with you, and his day is coming. As I said in the post-fight interview, he can try to delay this as long as he wants, but his day is coming.”

Hughes has long believed he deserved the nod in that first fight against Nurmagomedov but there was nothing he could do to change the judges’ scores, which is why he didn’t complain when the PFL gave him another fight instead of the immediate rematch.

Now Hughes can’t help but wonder if Nurmagomedov is just delaying the inevitable by putting up new hurdles for him to clear before they meet again.

“Look, the guy’s f*cked,” Hughes said. “He’s f*cked when I get my hands on him. Let’s put it like that. I am in the gym every single day preparing for this. He has absolutely no idea what is coming for him.”