Paul Hughes returned to winning form with a dominant performance.
Headlining the PFL Belfast event at the SSE Arena in his hometown, Hughes faced Bruno Miranda. This marked his first fight since a narrow decision loss to Usman Nurmagomedov in a Bellator lightweight title bout in January. The Belfast native, known as “Big News,” seized the moment, finishing Miranda in under a minute.
The atmosphere in the SSE Arena was electric, fueled by a special walkout featuring Irish musician Foy Vance. Hughes channeled this energy into a fast start, applying pressure. He capitalized when Miranda threw a careless kick, countering decisively with a sharp left hook that dropped the Brazilian. Hughes immediately followed up with ground-and-pound, prompting the referee to stop the fight at the 42-second mark.
Following the dominant victory, Hughes wasted no time addressing his previous opponent and desired future foe.
He directly called out Usman Nurmagomedov, stating, “Usman Nurmagomedov! You can run, you can try to delay this rematch as long as you want, but your day is f*cking coming!”
