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Brett Okamoto
Usman Nurmagomedov vanquished the biggest threat to his undefeated record for the second time to claim the PFL’s vacant lightweight championship on Friday.
Nurmagomedov (20-0) defeated Paul Hughes (14-3) via unanimous decision in the main event of a PFL Champions Series in Dubai. The 155-pound matchup was a rematch of an electric fight in January, in which Nurmagomedov edged past Hughes in a majority decision. Friday’s matchup shared some similarities with the first, but ultimately resulted in a far more decisive win for Nurmagomedov. The judges scored it 50-45, 49-46 and 48-47.
Nurmagomedov, who is the younger cousin of retired MMA legend Khabib Nurmagomedov, immediately started to celebrate at the end of the bout, and Hughes appeared to accept his defeat before the official scores were read.
“You want to say this fight was close, too?” Nurmagomedov said. “I feel I won every round, but it was a very tough fight with a very tough opponent.”
A former champion in Bellator MMA, Nurmagomedov has been mostly dominant across his entire eight-year professional career. Hughes, of Northern Ireland, proved to be his toughest test yet despite coming up short in two attempts. There was no competitive love lost between them, as Friday’s bout saw each fighter taunt the other during exchanges, but the two camps showed mutual respect once the fight was over.
Hughes’ anti-wrestling and cardio pushed Nurmagomedov to arguably the best performance of his career. He took Hughes’ back several times, but didn’t come close to securing a finish and couldn’t even hold position. Hughes had a few big moments on the feet, including a strong leg kick that awkwardly buckled Nurmagomedov’s lower body, but Nuramagomedov answered with effective striking of his own that closed Hughes’ right eye by the fifth round.
Referee Keith Peterson got involved in the action multiple times because of accidental low kicks and headbutts. That was also a theme of the first contest, in which Hughes suffered a cut during an accidental headbutt in the fourth round. Neither fighter was penalized for any of the accidental blows, however, and they did not appear to impact the result.
Nurmagomedov’s title reign has been confusing over the past year, as the PFL acquired Bellator MMA in late 2023 but did not immediately dissolve the now-defunct promotion’s belt system. Officially, Nurmagomedov won the PFL’s new vacant title on Friday. The PFL essentially reset its championships earlier this year and has several more vacant title fights lined up in 2025.