Irish Blood: How Usman Nurmagomedov defended his Bellator title

The PFL may organize a rematch between Russian Usman Nurmagomedov and Irishman Paul Hughes, the organization said. On Sunday, January 26, Nurmagomedov won a hard-fought decision (47-47, 48-46, 48-46) and defended his Bellator lightweight title. The 26-year-old Russian won his 19th victory in 20 fights (one fight was ruled a no contest). The 27-year-old Irishman suffered his second loss in 13 wins. In the co-main event, the other Russian PFL champion had no problems with Tim Johnson.

Irish problems

In the main event of the evening, Usman Nurmagomedov had a bout against Ireland's Paul Hughes. Despite the recent official closure of the Bellator promotion, which was bought out by the PFL a year ago , that league's lightweight belt was on the line.

Khabib's cousin had a difficult mission: to dissuade Russian fans that the Nurmagomedov clan had begun to decline. A week earlier, Usman's brother Umar had lost in a title fight to Merab Dvalishvili and failed to become champion, while Usman had to defend his Bellator belt for the third time. And if we take into account the fight with Brent Primus (Usman won by unanimous decision of judges, but in his doping sample found banned substances), then the fourth time.

Usman approached this fight as an undefeated fighter, his record is 18 matches without a loss. The first number in Umar's record is the same, but in the second number the zero changed to one. Usman won the Bellator belt, defeating Brazilian Patricky Pitbull, and defended the title in fights against Benson Henderson and Alexander Shablia. Usman choked out the former UFC champion in the first round, while the Russian top lightweight was outgunned on points.

Usman's opponent was little-known Irish fighter Paul Hughes. Usman and Hughes' fight was announced with the sign "Dagestan vs. Ireland, Part 2," as if reminiscing about one of the greatest fights in MMA history between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor. The latter, by the way, was ready to be present in Hughes' corner, but it never came to the actual organization of such an event as a meeting between Khabib and Conor on different sides of the cage.

The Irishman has only recently started competing in the big leagues. Just nine months ago, he fought in McGregor's native league Cage Warriors, where he first took the belt in the featherweight division, and then rose to 70 kg. Hughes was a bit short of Conor's success: the latter was a double champion of the Irish promotion - just in the featherweight and lightweight divisions. After going 8-1 in Cage Warriors, Paul signed with Bellator and delivered a brutal knockout from the ground-and-pound in a fight against Bobby King. Hughes then fought in the PFL, defeating former Bellator main event star A.J. McKee by decision.

The fighters started with scouting - there was almost no punches in the first minute, with only Usman throwing out a couple of sharp high kicks. Nurmagomedov continued to test Hughes with his legs, and the Irishman occasionally threw combinations from his hands that didn't reach the target. Two minutes before the siren, Usman hit his opponent in the groin - Hughes quickly recovered and the fight continued. During one of Usman's attacks, the Irishman almost caught him with a counterpunch, but did not. Soon Hughes also hit Usman's groin - Nurmagomedov recovered just as quickly. In the last ten seconds, the contenders scrambled a bit, but the round undoubtedly goes to Usman.

In the second round, Usman started kicking even more often, but at one point Hughes caught Nurmagomedov and sent him into a mini knockdown. Usman immediately got up and tried to move his opponent, but it didn't work. At one point Nurmagomedov got close to his opponent, took a hard side kick, but got into a clinch, from where he tried to move Hughes, but he successfully defended again. The Irishman's punches looked very dangerous, but they lacked accuracy. Usman also started to hit with his hands, but Hughes met him well with his knee. In the last minute, the rivals entered the exchange several times, and Hughes did not look like a loser in these clashes. The last 20 seconds were taken by Usman with the number of punches - perhaps that was enough to win the round.

Usman looked preferable at the start of the third segment, although he started to be less active. Nurmagomedov was hitting more accurately, delivering good "twos" to his opponent's head. In the middle of the round Usman again tried to make a transfer, but Hughes defended, and Nurmagomedov once again hit in the groin, but on the replay it is not clear whether the blow was really accentuated. That said, the judges still took a point away from Nurmagomedov. When the fight continued, Usman gave his opponent three takedowns, but each time Hughes got up very quickly. At the end of the segment, the Irishman even tried to control Usman at the net, but the Russian did his best to keep the control short.

"Bro, you're a real man, you're tough!"

By the fourth round, the pace of the fight between Usman and Hughes had slowed, the punches were fewer, and the Irishman, who gradually took the center of the cage, was hitting more often. Usman's high kicks didn't embarrass Paul anymore, the Irishman kept moving forward and looked really good. Nurmagomedov was not able to impose his game, and Hughes looked even fresher by the end of the round, but with a minute and a half to go the fighters clashed heads. Usman ended up on the canvas and his opponent suffered a cut on his forehead. It looked like the incident was no one's fault - both were going towards each other in the episode. Usman was ready to continue, a doctor was invited into the cage, who gave permission to fight on. With a minute to go, Usman moved Hughes and found himself in the guard, from where he tried to throw punches, but Hughes was not idle either, fighting back from the bottom.

In the final round, the fighters worked cautiously, but when Hughes went forward, Usman dropped his opponent and started hitting him with knees to the thighs from behind. It lasted over a minute, and as the Irishman tried to get up, Usman would roll him again. With a couple minutes to go, the fighters returned to the clinch, with Hughes working first and entering the clinch, where he tried to pound Nurmagomedov's body with multiple punches. Usman responded with a nice double - the Irishman stood his ground. With 15 seconds to go before the siren, the fighters had another tough fight, and the round went to Nurmagomedov.

The judges' decision was a big intrigue - almost all the rounds were close, plus Usman was taken off the score for a kick to the groin. The result was not announced for a long time, but in the end Usman Nurmagomedov won by majority decision - 47:47, 48:46, 48:46.

- Brother, you're a real man, you're tough," Nurmagomedov addressed his opponent.- I underestimated this guy, that was my mistake. But still I remain undefeated. His defense against tekdowns is very good, he's tough, he's strong. Thanks for the fight, I went to a new level thanks to you.

Hughes in turn asked for a rematch with Usman. PFL does not object to this development of events, the second fight of rivals can take place in Ireland.

Decided in the first

Nemkov for a long time could not wait for a new opponent - the PFL league was in no hurry to assign him a fight, so Vadim intended to leave the promotion and move to the UFC. It is possible that after the fight with Johnson he will do exactly that. Initially, the league planned to give Nemkov a fight against Corey Anderson, with whom Vadim fought twice. The first fight was canceled because of a clash of heads, the second fight ended with the victory of the Russian, who beat Corey on points without any questions. Nemkov refused from the trilogy, honestly admitting that there is no sense in this fight for him, as Corey is a dangerous opponent, and there is little time for preparation.

Tim Johnson, on the other hand, is not used to fighting Russians. The American heavyweight did it six times and only once, in 2015, defeated Shamil Abdurakhimov in the UFC by technical knockout in the first round. From there, only losses: to Alexander Volkov by split decision, to Vitaly Minakov by first-round knockout, as well as to Fedor Emelianenko, to Valentin Moldavsky by unanimous decision, and to Denis Goltsov by technical knockout in the second round.

Nemkov himself realized that his current opponent is weaker than Anderson, but Vadim recently became a heavyweight and had only one fight in this division - against Bruno Capelozza. Nemkov previously competed at 93 kg, and now he is riding a streak of 12 wins (the first fight with Corey was not counted), and eight of them were early. Vadim won the Bellator belt in 2020 by defeating Ryan Bader. He then defended the title against Phil Davis, Julius Anglickas, the aforementioned Corey Anderson and Yoel Romero.

The fight between Nemkov and Johnson started cautiously, but after the Russian's first punch, Tim opened up a cleft on his forehead. Nemkov continued to check his opponent with kicks, and Johnson's punches were not dangerous. A minute and a half after the start, Vadim moved Johnson and pinned him to the net when the American got up. Nemkov tried to get behind his backhand, but Johnson defended as best he could, sometimes grabbing the net. When Vadim did separate Tim from the net, he still managed to get behind his back and hung onto the American with his backpack. Johnson promptly tapped - he couldn't tolerate a choke from Nemkov for long.