“I think Usman is right now one of the best lightweights in the world. I was before, now it’s our brother Islam [Makhachev], and Usman is next. This is dynasty.” UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov declared after his cousin Usman Nurmagomedov’s dominant win at Bellator Championship Series 4 in September 2024. The Dagestani legend has never missed a chance to hype up Usman, openly sharing his vision for their team to dominate MMA.
Now, Usman Nurmagomedov is set to return to action on October 3, 2025, at the Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai, UAE, where he will face Paul Hughes in a highly anticipated rematch under the PFL banner. After falling short against Usman in January, Hughes has since teamed up with Tom Aspinall in a bid to derail the Nurmagomedov dynasty. While appearing in an interview with Ariel Helwani, Hughes uncovered everything.
“That was me. That was all me,” Hughes joked when Helwani brought up his stunt during the PFL Europe 2 event in July. During the event in Brussels, Belgium, Hughes was shown cageside holding up a toy duck on the broadcast to taunt Usman, mimicking a viral moment by UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall. “No, I obviously completely stole it from Tom Aspinall and coincidentally was training with him a couple of weeks before that,” Hughes confessed.
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When asked whether he plans to continue training with Aspinall and Craig Jones following their recent collaboration, Hughes explained, “Oh yeah, absolutely. I picked up so many good details from Craig just in that one training day. It was phenomenal.” This prompted Helwani to highlight that one of Jones’ fighters, Jack Della Maddalena, had success against Belal Muhammad, who is part of Khabib Nurmagomedov’s team, asking whether Hughes will have Jones in his corner.
“We’ll see. There [have] been talks of it. Maybe he will be in the corner this time,” Hughes revealed. However, there’s another man Hughes plans to align with, one of Conor McGregor’s bitter rivals, in order to guarantee a victory over Usman in the rematch.
Paul Hughes’ secret weapon sued Conor McGregor
During the same interview, Helwani mentioned that he had previously hosted Artem Lobov—who is also fighting on the same PFL card where Hughes will face Usman—on his show. Lobov revealed that he had been invited to join Hughes’ team ahead of the Usman fight. “Yeah, I [have] seen he’s on the card. And Oh, it would be great to have him up here,” Hughes said.
MMA: UFC Fight Night-Gdansk-Lobov vs Fili, Oct 21, 2017 Gdansk, Poland Artem Lobov red gloves fights Andre Fili blue gloves, not pictured during UFC Fight Night at Ergo Arena. Mandatory Credit: Per Haljestam-USA TODAY Sports, 21.10.2017 19:36:07, 10358996, UFC Fight Night, Andre Fili, MMA PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxONLY Copyright: xPerxHaljestamx 10358996
Notably, Artem Lobov is suing Conor McGregor, claiming he was promised a 5% stake in McGregor’s Proper No. Twelve whiskey brand for his role in its creation. Regardless, besides Artem, Hughes revealed “John Mitchell joined us there,” who is another fighter who was previously in Conor McGregor’s team. “We’ve got a hell of a team. We’ve built an unbelievable team here in Belfast, honestly,” Hughes told Ariel Helwani during the interview.
It’s clear that Paul Hughes is on a mission—to dethrone Usman Nurmagomedov and bring an end to Khabib’s so-called dynasty. To do it, he’s aligning himself with anyone he believes can help get the job done. The question is, can Hughes actually pull it off?
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