Paul Hughes returned home to Belfast with a sold out crowd at the famed SSE Arena and a vicious first round knockout over Bruno Miranda.
The Irish star is PFL’s biggest home grown sensation, and was coming back from his first defeat under their banner back in January. Hughes went the distance in a razor-close decision defeat to Usman Nurmagomedov, with fans calling for an immediate rematch.
He was welcomed back by Brazilian veteran Miranda, whose last outing saw him defeat Patricky Pitbull in the 2024 Global season. Hughes significantly outsized his rival, and entered the cage as a massive favorite.
Paul Hughes vs Bruno Miranda PFL Belfast result:
In order to secure another meeting with Nurmagomedov, Paul Hughes knew he would need a big performance when he made his Belfast homecoming on Saturday night. The Russian opted not to travel to watch the fight, but was undoubtedly keeping an eye from his training base.
The only reception that compared with Hughes’ rapturous entrance was the loud boos Miranda received upon making his way to the cage. Ed Sheeran-signed recording artist Foy Vance kicked off the anticipated ring walk with a rendition of ‘Grace’ before the Derry native headed to action.
And it only took the Irishman one big left hand to land the knockout and send his home crowd into hysteria. The huge shot was followed by ruthless ground and pound before the referee had to stop the bout after just seconds.
He immediately made the callout to Nurmagomedov, warning him that his ‘time is coming’ after attempting to delay the rematch.
PFL Belfast packs out the SSE Arena
While Saturday’s event may have gone under the radar in the United States due to a lack of broadcaster, it was a huge hit at the box office. Over 7,000 fans bought tickets to sell out the former Odyssey arena, which has housed major fight nights for the likes of Carl Frampton, Michael Conlan and Gegard Mousasi.
Hughes is a huge fan favorite with the Irish crowd, and already has experience packing the 3Arena for his Bellator debut last summer. That night he stopped Bobby King, and he has since fought on the undercard of Francis Ngannou’s return in Riyadh and the main event of Dubai’s biggest ever MMA show.
The Irish crowd weren’t treated to a slew of home wins, however, with only Corey McLaughlin and Eoin Sheridan showing up on the undercard. His namesake Connor Hughes, however, did land a knockout of the year contender over Sebastien Di Franco.