Tag: Bellator Champions Series: Road to Dubai

Usman Nurmagomedov says Paul Hughes hopeless in title fight: ‘Nobody can touch me’

Paul Hughes’ legacy in MMA will be “losing a fight vs. Usman Nurmagomedov,” the Bellator champ said before Road to Dubai.

[autotag]Usman Nurmagomedov[/autotag] doesn’t think [autotag]Paul Hughes[/autotag] is a viable threat to his Bellator lightweight title.

With Nurmagomedov (18-0) short on fresh contenders, however, he accepts Hughes (13-1) as the challenger to his throne when they meet in the main event of PFL’s Road to Dubai card Jan. 25. But with just two victories in the promotion and only one notable result over A.J. McKee in October, the champ doesn’t really see Hughes as worthy.

“It was not a crazy fight (with McKee),” Nurmagomedov told MMA Junkie. “For my opinion, this fight is not a contender fight. If you make a contender fight, make it five rounds. These guys make it three rounds and they give him a title shot. But maybe this fight is good for media, and that’s why they give me Paul, who has only two fights in Bellator. But I don’t care. Give me some name, a date, and I will be there and I will be ready.”

There is some degree of tension going into the matchup. Nurmagomedov’s coach and cousin Khabib threw fuel on the promotional fire by taking shots at the level of Irish MMA compared to Dagestan, and those comments have not sat well with Hughes, who has made claims of steroid use toward the opposing team.

Nurmagomedov, 26, agrees with Khabib that his region of the world has the superior talent, but he’s not letting Hughes’ outrage concern him. He’s recently spent time around Hughes, 27, and vouches for him as a solid person while dismissing any trash talk as pre-fight hype.

“As a person, he’s not a bad guy,” Nurmagomedov said. “We were literally joking around. I even told the promoters, ‘Hey, I see this guy too many times – every day. This is not good for me because I have to smash his face. How will I smash his face when I see him every day and we smile to each other?’ But Paul is not a bad guy. If people think Paul Hughes is a bullsh*t guy, he is not. He is a good guy. As a man, he is not a bad guy.

“In my opinion, he is promoting this fight. That’s it. He won’t make his name on me. He knows this is a way to change his life in a good way. But sorry, Paul. Everybody will remember him only for losing a fight vs. Usman Nurmagomedov. That’s it.”

Nurmagomedov, who has never tasted defeat in his career, is keen to log another title defense on his resume and show why he is a superior talent in the sport. In his mind, Hughes will have nothing to offer in the cage.

“He said when he punches me, something will change – but who can do that?” Nurmagomedov said. “Someone has punched me? Never. No. Nobody can touch me. … Sometimes, I’m really thinking like, ‘How can be beat me? How?’ Even striking, I’m much better than him in striking. I don’t know about his plan in this fight, but I will follow my plans and do my job. I don’t care what he will do.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for PFL Champions Series: Road to Dubai.

Usman Nurmagomedov clarifies Khabib’s Dagestan vs. Ireland MMA comments

Usman Nurmagomedov hopes the Dagestan vs. Ireland comparison remains purely about MMA.

[autotag]Usman Nurmagomedov[/autotag] hopes the Dagestan vs. Ireland comparison remains purely about MMA.

Usman’s cousin, [autotag]Khabib Nurmagomedov[/autotag], riled up the Irish fighters and fans when he said that unlike Dagestan, Ireland hasn’t really produced anyone of note outside of Conor McGregor and Paul Hughes.

Nurmagomedov agrees, but doesn’t like how the debate has transcended MMA.

“If we’re talking about levels, of course we can talk a lot, but we have facts,” Nurmagomedov told MMA Junkie. “Bellator champion: Some Irish have Bellator champions? No. PFL, no. UFC, no. In PFL, we have champions, in Bellator we have champions – and not only one. In PFL, we have two or three. In Bellator, we have two or three, and in the UFC, soon Umar will be the second one and Islam Makhachev we have. If we talk only about sport, MMA, Dagestan, Russia, we’re different level.

“But other things, I don’t want to talk or touch about people or nation. Some people don’t understand, when you say, like, level different, they start talking sh*t, you know? This is not good. We’re not talking about a nation or something. We’re just talking about MMA levels, you know? And that’s it, nothing else, nothing more. And we stay within this border now. We don’t go outside the border and talk sh*t about people, no. We’re just talking about levels in MMA. Fighters from Ireland and Russia, and that’s it.”

Nurmagomedov (18-0) defends his lightweight title against Hughes (13-1) in the PFL Champions Series: Road to Dubai main event on Jan. 25.

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for PFL Champions Series: Road to Dubai.

Usman Nurmagomedov ‘more stressed’ for brother Umar, Islam Makhachev at UFC 311 than own title defense

It would be hard to draw up a more significant start to the year than what Usman Nurmagomedov and his teammates have lined up in January.

It would be hard to draw up a more significant start to the year than what [autotag]Usman Nurmagomedov[/autotag] and his teammates have lined up to begin 2025.

The Dagestan takeover in MMA could reach its peak this month with Nurmagomedov (18-0) set to put his Bellator lightweight title on the line against Paul Hughes (13-0) at Road to Dubai on Jan. 25, just one week after his brother, Umar, challenges Merab Dvalishvili for the UFC bantamweight title in the UFC 311 co-main event on Jan. 18, and Islam Makhachev puts his 155-pound strap on the line against Arman Tsarukyan in the headliner of the same card in Inglewood, Calif.

Scheduling for the respective championship has splintered training camps among the team. Khabib Nurmagomedov has headed the ship for Umar and Makhachev stateside in Las Vegas, while Usman remained at home in Dagestan. He considered joining his team in the U.S. for a portion of his training camp, but ultimately logistics ruled it out.

“It’s not too much travel,” Nurmagomedov told MMA Junkie on Wednesday. “I had a little problem with my VISA. I got it, but I got it a little late, so that’s why I made the decision not to go to America. If I go there for 10 days, I will have jet lag then come back and have jet lag. I don’t want to lose some time. I just made the decision to stay in Dagestan because in Dagestan we have a lot of warriors, too, where I can work. So that’s why I stayed in Dagestan and did the whole camp here.

“Honestly, yes, for me it’s a little hard. I want to be there with Umar for his fight, first time for him fighting for a title. But any time it doesn’t matter. For me, it’s the most important that these guys will win. That’s what’s most important. Other things, this doesn’t matter.”

Usman said his expectation is for Umar and Makhachev to finish their respective opponents to leave UFC 311 with gold, then join him in Dubai as part of his corner team against Hughes.

It’s going to be agonizing for Usman to watch everything play out at UFC 311 from the other side of the globe, and he admits he’s more on edge and invested in the results for his older brother, Makhachev and another teammate in Tagir Ulanbekov than his own contest.

“Honestly, I’m more nervous about these guys fighting than my own,” Nurmagomedov said. “My fights, I don’t care even. I know what I can do, and I know my skills. I just have to go in the cage and referee will say, ‘Let’s start guys.’ I love this. I am more stressed and more nervous about Umar, about Islam, about Tagir and these guys. But with these guys, Khabib is there. Even if Khabib wasn’t there, it’s because I love these guys so much. That’s why I’m nervous. They will win, I believe.”

If all goes according to plan, the Nurmagomedov team will boast a high-level slate of champions by the end of the month: Usman in Bellator, Umar and Makhachev in the UFC, and also 2024 PFL lightweight champion Gadzhi Rabadanov.

It’s a dream scenario, Usman said, and he fully expects things to come to fruition.

“Can you imagine if we will begin this year with two UFC champions, one PFL champion, one Bellator champion?” Nurmagomedov said. “Phew. This is crazy.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for PFL Champions Series: Road to Dubai.

Khabib Nurmagomedov rips Irish MMA ahead of cousin’s title defense vs. Paul Hughes

What does Khabib Nurmagomedov think of Irish MMA? “There is no fighters, brother.”

[autotag]Khabib Nurmagomedov[/autotag] doesn’t think very highly of the overall quality of Irish fighters in MMA.

Ahead of his cousin [autotag]Usman Nurmagomedov[/autotag]’s (18-0) lightweight title defense against [autotag]Paul Hughes[/autotag] (13-1) at PFL Champions Series: Road to Dubai on Jan. 25, UFC Hall of Famer Khabib is not interested in a discussion about the impact of athletes from Ireland compared to his native Dagestan.

The biggest rivalry in the history of MMA came between Khabib, from Dagestan, and Ireland’s Conor McGregor. The matchup between Usman and Hughes is being touted as the next chapter in the feud between regions.

Khabib, however, said it’s a foolish comparison. He sees only two strong Irish representatives in the sport with Hughes and McGregor (although Ian Machado Garry is worth mentioning), and said it pales to the strength from his part of the world.

“Ireland don’t have fighters, brother,” Nurmagomedov said in an interview with PFL. “Let’s be honest: How many fighters from Ireland? Paul Hughes and Conor. Who else? There is no fighters, brother. You come to Dagestan, you can understand. So many organizations, they don’t even want to sign Dagestan fighters because they worry about like, everybody can become champion.”

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In the aftermath of his MMA retirement in 2020, Khabib has evolved into one of the prominent coaches in MMA behind his cousins Usman and Umar, his childhood friends Islam Makhachev and Gadzhi Rabadanov, plus many more. He works first hand with the very best from Dagestan, so he minced no words on how the fighters around him stack up to those from Ireland.

“Let’s be honest: Dagestan level of MMA here (up high),” Nurmagomedov said. “But Ireland level, like not even half of Dagestan level.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for PFL Champions Series: Road to Dubai.

Paul Hughes unbothered by Usman Nurmagomedov’s past drug test failure, vows to ‘bring him to hell’

Paul Hughes is confident he will ruin Usman Nurmagomedov’s perfect record and restore the feeling to Irish MMA.

Even if Bellator lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov intentionally used performance-enhancing drugs, [autotag]Paul Hughes[/autotag] believes it wouldn’t make a difference in their upcoming fight.

As we’ve seen over the years, high-level fighters coming out of Ireland are a confident bunch, and Hughes (13-1) is no different. He may not be as loud and bodacious as Conor McGregor, but the confidence in his ability inside the cage is the same.

At Bellator Champion Series: Road to Dubai on Jan. 25, 2025, Hughes gets a crack lightweight gold against the undefeated Nurmagomedov (18-0). The champ’s record is unblemished, although a Bellator 300 win over Brent Primus was overturned due to a positive drug test.

Nurmagomedov said the result was due to prescribed medication and there was no intention of attempting to gain an advantage. For Hughes, that issue is essentially an afterthought, but if his opponent was looking for an edge, it wouldn’t make a difference.

“I haven’t thought too much on it, to be honest,” Hughest told MMA Junkie. “At the end of the day, you know, it’s gonna take more than steroids to beat me, especially over five rounds. Yes, obviously Russia has history with doping and stuff like that, people are naturally going to think he’s definitely juicing. In mixed martial arts, I think skills really pay the bills and especially over five rounds. I think that whether he’s taking steroids or not, he might be, a lot of people are 100 percent convinced that he’s juicing and that his team juices. Whether or not you want to believe that, I don’t think it makes a difference to me.

“You put me in the cage with any 155er over five rounds and I will beat them, because I can go to the death to beat somebody. I’ve done it before and I can do it again if I need to. So, whatever. If he took them, he took them. If he did take them, to me, that’s mental weakness. That’s pure, pure mental weakness. And as I say, no man at 155 can beat me over five rounds.”

Hughes, 27, has been on a roll since losing a split decision to Jordan Vucenic in December 2020, the lone loss on his professional record. Since then, he has won seven straight fights, inlcuding three stoppages and a big win over former Bellator champ AJ McKee in October which led to his title opportunity.

For Hughes, winning the Bellator lightweight championship would help restore excitment in the Irish MMA scene, and he’s extremely confident he can put a 1 in Nurmagomedov’s loss column.

“I’m gonna bring this man to hell, 100 percent, if I need to,” Hughes said. “Now, I am very confident that I can knock him out clean as I almost, almost, almost did with AJ. I called the shot and all, it was so close. I see shots against Usman, and I know for a fact that I can put him out, but I also know that I can bring him to hell for five rounds, to a place that nobody has ever brought him before.

“That’s when I do my best work, whenever I can drag people into hell, because I live there. I’ve been there many times in my career, and I’ve always, always came out victorious. The biggest nights that I’ve had, the most pressure, have been the nights that I performed the best. I’m honestly unbelievably confident going into this fight.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator Champions Series: Road to Dubai.

With Ante Delija out, Vadim Nemkov to fight Corey Anderson at Bellator Champions Series event

Vadim Nemkov and Corey Anderson will square off for a third time at Bellator Champions Series: Road to Dubai on January 25.

[autotag]Vadim Nemkov[/autotag] and [autotag]Corey Anderson[/autotag] will square off for a third time at Bellator Champions Series: Road to Dubai.

With Ante Delija out, Nemkov (17-2-1) now faces Anderson (18-6-1) in a heavyweight bout Jan. 25 at Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai, promotion officials announced Wednesday.

Nemkov and Anderson fought twice before in title fights. Their first outing in the Bellator grand prix final in April 2022 ended in a no contest after an accidental headbutt rendered Nemkov unable to continue. Anderson was largely in control before the inadvertent clash of heads ended the fight in Round 3.

The pair ran things back seven months later when Nemkov was able to outpoint Anderson to win a unanimous decision at Bellator 288. Anderson rebounded with a win over Phil Davis at Bellator 297 and on the same night, Nemkov successfully defended his light heavyweight title against Yoel Romero.

However, Anderson couldn’t get his desired rubber match after Nemkov opted to vacate his title and move up to heavyweight. As a result, Anderson claimed the vacant light heavyweight title by beating Karl Moore at Bellator Champions Series: Belfast last March. Meanwhile, Nemkov submitted Bruno Cappelozza in the second round to capture the PFL vs. Bellator Super Belt in his return to heavyweight.

With the addition, the current lineup includes:

  • Usman Nurmagomedov vs. Paul Hughes – for lightweight title
  • Corey Anderson vs. Vadim Nemkov

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator Champions Series: Road to Dubai.

Paul Hughes accepts Ian Machado Garry’s cornerman offer for Bellator title fight

Ian Machado Garry cornering Paul Hughes for his Bellator title fight vs. Usman Nurmagomedov would be a full-circle moment.

[autotag]Paul Hughes[/autotag] welcomes the idea of fellow Irishman [autotag]Ian Machado Garry[/autotag] being in his corner for his fight with Bellator lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov.

At Wednesday’s UFC 310 media day in Las Vegas, Machado Garry was asked if he would be interested in being part of Hughes’ (13-1) corner for the Jan. 25 headliner against Nurmagomedov (18-0) at Bellator Champions Series: Road to Dubai.

Machado Garry instantly agreed to the idea and said it would be a form of reciprocation for something Hughes did for him in June 2021.

“When I fought for my Cage Warriors world title, Paul was there in my corner when I had no one,” Machado Garry said. “If he wants me in his corner, I will find a way to be there and give the support he needs.”

Hughes recalls the situation Machado Garry was talking about, when he defeated Jack Grant to win the Cage Warriors welterweight title. It was Machado Garry’s final fight before joining the UFC, and Hughes aided him in a time of need.

The circumstances are different for Hughes going into his upcoming title fight, but he would be happy to have Machado Garry by his side.

“Ian had some complications, let’s say, with his gym at the time here over in Ireland,” Hughes told MMA Junkie on Thursday. “It was his world title fight and that week, whatever had happened with them, he needed somebody to corner. And to be fair to Ian, he would’ve gone out there by himself. But legally I don’t think he was not allowed to have a cornerman. So he needed someone in there. I was in London at the time and he asked me and of course I’m going to help the guy out. Absolutely, and he would do the same for me if I was in that situation.

“It’s fond memories for sure with Ian. And yeah, absolutely. If he’s in Dubai, we’ll throw him in there 100 percent. That would be fun.”

With Conor McGregor having set the bar for Irish MMA fighters, Hughes and Machado Garry are the best of the next generation. The significance of their next fights prove as much, and Hughes said he intends to do his part to continue the momentum.

“It’s funny how it’s all going down,” Hughes said. “Ian’s fighting here on Saturday obviously against Shavkat (Rakhmonov), and Shavkat’s been here training in the gym at Kill Cliff, where I’m currently at. Just the whole thing is funny. It’s actually quite nice to see how far we’ve both come. And coincidentally, we’re both fighting guys who are 18-0. So hopefully it’s 18-1, times two.”

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PFL adds Ante Delija vs. Vadim Nemkov to Bellator Champions Series: Road to Dubai on Jan. 25

A pair of former champions will throw down at Road to Dubai: Champions Series.

A pair of former champions will throw down at Bellator Champions Series: Road to Dubai.

[autotag]Ante Delija[/autotag] (24-6) takes on [autotag]Vadim Nemkov[/autotag] (17-2-1) in a heavyweight bout on Jan. 25 at Coca-Cola Arena, promotion officials announced Friday morning.

Unbeaten in his past 13 fights, former Bellator light heavyweight titleholder Nemkov returned to heavyweight in his past outing, submitting Bruno Cappelozza in the second round to capture the PFL vs. Bellator Super Belt.

2022 PFL heavyweight champion Delija saw his five-fight winning streak snapped at the hands of Valentin Moldavsky at 2024 PFL 1 in April.

With the addition, the current lineup includes:

  • Usman Nurmagomedov vs. Paul Hughes – for lightweight title
  • Ante Delija vs. Vadim Nemkov