Irish lightweight star Paul Hughes has commended the PFL in an apparent bid to change the landscape on fighter pay — and bring some competition to mega-bucks outlet UFC.
Hughes, who last fought against Usman Nurmagomedov for the title, shot to limelight for making life extremely tough for the Nurmagomedov scion despite losing to a judges’ decision. The former Cage Warriors champion made good on his PFL move last summer. After impressing majorly almost worldwide, the 13-2 Derry man is now set for an Irish homecoming this summer in Belfast against Bruno Miranda.
Hughes has been propelled into stardom on the back of his Rocky Balboaesque heart. But he believes none of this would have been possible without the PFL signing him up after he had passed on the UFC. Why would he leave the big leagues for the rival promotion? Well, a better contract, shorter in length, more money in the bank; that sort of thing.
So when former UFC lightweight star, Josh Thompson, labelled the promotion and its officials inept, Hughes was happy to remind him that competition wasn’t a bad thing, especially if the alternative was “leaving the fight game with no money (and a lot of brain damage)“.
“The PFL has provided me the platform to completely change my life and my career in 9 months,” Hughes tweeted on Friday.
“I find it disappointing that it has become a trend to hate on them. They are the UNDERDOGS, fighting to make a CHANGE in an industry where the athletes are under-served. And underpaid.”, he added on a disappointed note after looking at the state of affairs in the MMA industry.
Dana White’s UFC has long been notorious for its unfair treatment of fighters. And White’s general response to questions about possible improvements has been that athletes should pack up and join another league!
“This is mine, and this is the way we’re doing it.“, he had told reporters back in 2021 after being pressed. 4 years and a Zuffa anti-trust lawsuit later, the song remains the same.
As a matter of fact, since the PFL signed away his heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou in 2023, White has been rather publicly bitter about the rival promotion.
White’s potshots at PFL amid Bellator chaos
Despite remaining tight-lipped on a move for Patricio Pitbull from the PFL last year before his eventual landing in the UFC, White told reporters that the rival promotion was “Canceling events left and right, fighters aren’t getting fights” since they were running out of money.
He had previously laughed at Ngannou for trying to join the PFL, calling it goofy. Even after Ngannou defeated Rennan Fereira to essentially become the Lineal heavyweight champion of the world in 2024, White would continue to make personal remarks at the former UFC fighter.
During the post-PPV presser, White had claimed that he didn’t think about Ngannou as such but asserted that the Cameroonian was not a good human being to begin with.
“Francis… he plays the good guy…He seems like a nice guy, he’s not and he just is not a guy that I want to be in business with.”, he had said at the time.
Interestingly, Ngannou’s departure from the UFC had come after contract negotiations went sour following the Cameroonian’s attempts for better representation for fighters, along with demands for higher pay for himself and his opponents.
That said, PFL themselves are not without blame here. As of late, the promotion has struggled to keep up with the demands of their fighters, who have been asking for… well, fights.
As noted, Pitbull already handed in his walking papers, with the likes of Patchy Mix and fellow champion Corey Anderson actively searching for their way out of the SmartCage.
Furthermore, taking the Bellator MMA product after a merger in 2023, PFL will no longer host events with the stalwart promotion’s branding going forward.
