Hughes takes on Bruno Miranda at PFL Europe Belfast this weekend as he takes centre stage in his homeland in a fight that he had hoped would be a title rematch with Nurmagomedov, but instead sees him facing a dangerous opponent, as he explained.
“Bruno is a very dangerous guy. I knew that before we signed the fight,” Hughes told MMA Fighting.
“Obviously, I study everybody that’s in my kind of bracket. Very dangerous guy. Big puncher. Has been in there with a lot of world champions. Someone that is not being taken lightly in any regard.
“I’ve had to treat this as another world title fight, essentially. With this added pressure of being at home and delivering there, there’s a lot on the line here, and Bruno is the type of guy if you slip up, he can knock you clean out. He has the capabilities to do that.
“So I have to take the fight unbelievably serious. Any fight in mixed martial arts there is risk but without risk there is no reward. At the end of the day, I get to live my dream and fight at the SSE Arena in Belfast and bring the company, bring the PFL here and show them what we can do. So, incredible opportunity.”
Hughes was hoping to have a world title rematch on home soil, but now, against Miranda, he finds himself as the clear favourite, with all of the pressure on his shoulders to not just carry the card, but deliver the goods on fight night.
That doesn’t concern Hughes at all, however.
“There’s pressure every time I fight now,” he stated.
“I’m f*****g used to it. I’m the f*****g best. So I always deal with it well. Pressure creates diamonds.
“I am a competitor that always shows up. You’ve never seen me through any night of my career not show up on fight night and that will not change.”
As for the rematch with Nurmagomedov, Hughes said that it’ll happen eventually, and when it does, he’ll avenge his majority decision loss and capture the lightweight title.
“Look, he’s always going to try to extend that [reign] as long as he can because he got very, very close to losing his belt,” he said.
“It didn’t surprise me that much considering I believe I won the fight, as everyone knows. I do believe that he was almost broken in there, had the head clash not happened at the end of the fourth [round]. Of course, he’s going to try to delay [the rematch].
“Fair enough. He still has the belt. He’s the champ. He can say these things. But at the end of the day, my day will come again and it’s coming soon. Another win over Bruno Miranda here, there’s absolutely no question that Usman is next. Whenever that is, I’m not sure, but it’s coming.”
