A massive weekend in combat sports kicks off tomorrow when the PFL’s Road to Dubai goes down with a massive lightweight title fight in the main event. Usman Nurmagomedov (19-0, 1 NC) and Paul Hughes (14-2) will run it back for the PFL lightweight title.
Back in January, these two fought for the Bellator lightweight title in a fight that was one of the best fights in the history of the promotion. Nobody had really challenged Nurmagomedov until then and Hughes pushed him to the limit. In the end, it wasn’t enough with Nurmagomedov winning a majority decision.
While Nurmagomedov hasn’t fought since, Hughes did headline a card in Ireland in May. He took on Bruno Miranda and he stopped him in just 42 seconds. Now, we will see the highly anticipated rematch.
Nurmagomedov ran through the competition in Bellator prior to the PFL acquisition. He became the lightweight champion and went 4-0, 1 NC in title fights. Like all the Nurmagomedovs, he has incredible wrestling. However, he also has very good striking especially from kickboxing range.
Paul Hughes has his work cut out for him tomorrow if you ask me. While I think that Hughes is incredible, I just think that we saw his absolute best back in January and that still wasn’t enough to defeat Nurmagomedov. I think you’ll see Nurmagomedov be better than he was during their first fight, but I wonder if you’ll see a better version of Hughes.
Ultimately, I think Usman Nurmagomedov will win another decision tomorrow and he’ll become the PFL lightweight champion.
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