Irish PFL lightweight Paul Hughes analyzed his bout with Dagestan's Usman Nurmagomedov last weekend at the PFL tournament in Dubai.
"Obviously, I'm going to have to review the fight to better understand and give a clearer assessment of my performance. I think the judges' evaluations are ridiculous. I'm just judging from the energy in the arena and the crowd around the cage. But I'm not going to make excuses. I should have pressed harder and I'll do it next time. I know we'll meet again.
I felt like the stoppage in the fourth round when we collided heads changed the course of the fight. I felt like I started to break Usman down. Hitting him so hard to the body that I could feel him wheezing from those punches. I picked up the pace and emptied my tank and as a result Usman recovered, this also affected the outcome of the fight. And the head kick was a fluke, he had every right to recover. I'm certainly disappointed and devastated, but I'm also proud of myself. I deserve to win this title soon," Hughes is quoted by Cageside.
Recall that Hughes lost to Nurmagomedov by majority decision of the judges.
