At the turn of 2024, Paul Hughes was in the Fight Academy Ireland gym honing his skills with teammates for the biggest year of his career.
The Irishman had just made the move to lightweight after securing Cage Warriors gold, and had already had multiple approaches about joining the UFC. With his contract set to come up within the year, things were about to open up for the most impactful moves of his career.
Then, during a routine training session, teammate Ryan Curtis suffered a shocking injury that rendered him paralysed and put his life in serious danger. The Dubliner was one of Hughes’ best friends, and the incident made the top lightweight consider the fragility of a career in combat sports.
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Paul Hughes was in the gym when Ryan Curtis suffered horror injury
Hughes was one of the teammates who witnessed what happened to Curtis, who was training for a comeback fight of his own. The Dubliner was looking to make one final push towards his own UFC ambitions, having previously competed in Bellator, but was forced out of the sport in one moment.
And when Hughes was ultimately faced with offers from every major promotion, including the UFC, he ultimately opted for the PFL. There, he earns a much bigger base than he would in the sport’s top promotion, with options for bonuses fighting in Saudi Arabia and the chance to co-headline at home.
“100 per cent it did play a factor,” he told Bloody Elbow in Riyadh ahead of his second PFL bout against AJ McKee when asked about how Curtis’ injury affected his decision making. “I was there in the gym with Ryan when the injury happened.
“I was with him until the ambulance came and that’s the realities of this sport. It can happen at any time to the best of us; I could get severely hurt here on Saturday night, just look at some of the UFC Anti-Trust stuff recently where they talk about the trauma and stuff that happened throughout their careers.
“You have to get compensated for it because it’s a very, very short window. And I knew my earning potential in the next few years would be greatly, greatly increased if I went down this pathway with the PFL.
“I’m fighting the best guys and that’s what happened. I’ll get a bonus for taking this fight on Saturday night that is completely life-changing for me, so it was definitely a factor.”
Paul Hughes says he is fighting for Ryan Curtis as he lauds stunning recovery
Due to the nature of Curtis’ injury, there was an initial period in which doctors felt that he would never walk again. However, the fighter has undergone treatments and rehabilitation around the world, and is now able to walk and even lift weights as his recovery continues.
And Hughes, as he heads into what he brands the toughest fight of his career against a former Bellator featherweight champion, has taken great inspiration from his teammate. He believes that all fighters from the FAI Gym are competing for Curtis vicariously.
“You always see me repping Ryan’s t-shirt after my bouts,” he explained. “He’s just one of our mates as you would with one of your mates he’s always with us and always comes along on the journey.
“We said it from the get-go, remember when the doctors were saying he’s never going to walk again? They were certain because it was such a bad break and such an intense surgery. But we knew Ryan, we knew his mindset.
“We said ‘This guy is 100 percent going to walk again,’ and we told him that. And he knew that, look at him now. It’s not even a year, that happened in January and it’s October now, a severe neck and back break, what an inspiration.”
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