Former UFC champion Khabib Nurmagomedov backs up Paul Hughes following beef with MMA star Conor McGregor.
It seems that Paul Hughes and his Irish role model are loggerheads, as they seem to be caught in a feud. Their feud began after McGregor made a statement following Paul Hughes’s loss to lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov at PFL Dubai. McGregor believes Hughes made slight comments after his loss, so the Irishman took to X to write slandering tweets insulting Hughes and his Northern Irish heritage. Although Hughes was hurt by these comments, he dismissed them and said he was sad McGregor would say such things about him.
Speaking on Ariel Helwani’s podcast, the PFL star was asked about Conor McGregor’s recent attacks against him on social media. There, Hughes stated that the whole ordeal was honestly just sad.
“It sounds bad, but it seems like it’s just another day in his life of tweeting madness.” Hughes stated. “It’s not like I saw that and thought, ‘Oh wow, I can’t believe he said this about me’. It seems like it’s just another day in the life for him. I don’t hold weight to his opinion anymore, as to these sort of things. It’s kind of a sad thing to say that, but that’s just the reality of how I felt… I’ve always paid Conor homage at every opportunity. I’ll always say that he’s the greatest to ever do it… It’s kind of a sad thing.”
McGregor’s comment came as a shock to Paul Hughes but he was afterwards praised by Khabib Nurmagomedov.
“You are a real Irishman [Hughes] and not a rapist and drug addict like this bastard,” Nurmagomedov wrote via Instagram Stories.
Nurmagomedov and McGregor have a long history, with a heated feud that began when the two fought at UFC 229 in October 2018. On that night, Nurmagomedov successfully defended his lightweight title with a fourth-round submission of McGregor. He then sparked a post-fight brawl by attacking McGregor’s cornerman Dillon Danis. The incident resulted in McGregor, Nurmagomedov, and several other fighters receiving suspensions and fines.
