Dan Hardy saw something in Paul Hughes during the build-up to his epic first fight with Usman Nurmagomedov in January which he knew would define the fight.
Confidence.
Former British welterweight Hardy, who was on commentary duty for the PFL that night in Dubai, knew that would be key because he’d seen Hughes use it to his advantage before.
Just three months earlier the Northern Irishman had proved his doubters wrong by beating former Bellator featherweight champion AJ McKee, despite being the underdog.
“This won him 50% of the fight with McKee, he rattled him. And I saw it in Usman – he was trying to figure out why Paul was so confident and that can be very unnerving,” Hardy told BBC Sport.
“Usman probably isn’t used to that type of confidence. That was a defining factor for the whole fight week.”
Hughes took that belief into the lightweight title bout with the undefeated Nurmagomedov in January, where he pushed the Russian further than he had been in any of his previous 19 bouts.
Hughes, 28, was on the losing end of a unanimous decision in a back-and-forth bout Hardy described as “having everything”.
“There was so much drama. The atmosphere in the arena, it felt very much 50-50 in there for Usman and Paul,” he added.
“The corner teams were tense as well – you could see Khabib [Nurmagomedov] pretending to choke people out in the corner. We had the groin strikes and clash of heads that played into it as well, it gave you everything you want from a first fight.”
Now the stage is set for a rematch, with the 27-year-old Nurmagomedov defending his PFL lightweight title against Hughes in Dubai again on Friday.
“This feels like a legitimate world-class lightweight battle between two guys who can step seamlessly into the top 10 in the world right now,” said Hardy.
“This is a special fight. It just feels so much bigger and more important than everything else. I personally think it’s the biggest fight PFL have ever put on.”
By Bradley Shahenza
