Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00one of those we will see coming up next week for their first fight here of 2025 with Usman
00:06Nurmagomedov versus Paul Hughes. Now, you know, Hughes has done a lot of talking. So has Khabib.
00:12He's been more of the mouthpiece for the Nurmagomedovs, of course,
00:16riding up to this. They're building this as Dagestan versus Ireland, too, that there's
00:20this big rivalry. I think it's more of a Connor and Khabib rivalry than, you know,
00:25country versus country. But we're going to get a bunch of Irishmen on this card,
00:28a bunch of Russians. It's going to be very interesting. Let's talk about this top fight
00:32first, where Paul Hughes, pretty early in his career, has shown some good things, but
00:37has used, like Connor, used his mouth to get to the top pretty quickly in getting this title fight
00:42pretty early in his PFL career against a badass in Nurmagomedov who's undefeated.
00:48Yeah, I mean, look, I think Hughes has, I mean, I don't know if I compare him to Connor,
00:52the mouthpiece. Connor was a little bit more outspoken in a drastic way. I think what Hughes
00:57did against Antonio McKee Jr., and this is more of a right place at the right time. This goes back
01:02to what I was mentioning before about depth with these rosters really determining how to, you know,
01:07build your champions. Because if Antonio McKee Jr. would have beat Hughes, he'd be the one
01:11fighting here. So this makes sense. I think Hughes is getting a very good opportunity.
01:15If he's able to pull off the upset, that in the PFL just got an amazing amount of value out of him.
01:20But even if he loses, right, he's losing to someone who's arguably one of the best in the
01:24world in this division, regardless of organization. Luzman Nurmagomedov is phenomenal. He keeps
01:29getting better. I'm very curious to see how Hughes does in this fight more than I am
01:34Nurmagomedov, if that makes sense. I think there's a big test for Hughes. We said the same thing
01:38about him when he fought McKee Jr., and he almost made it look somewhat easy. So maybe some guys are
01:42just ready a little bit faster than others. So I think this fight, like I mentioned, right time,
01:47right place for Hughes. Nurmagomedov doesn't say no to any challenger. So here we are. It should be
01:51a good fight. What do you think of the buildup of, you know, country versus country? I mean,
01:56you know, he was very vocal saying, you know, there isn't that many great Irish fighters.
02:01I mean, obviously there's been a lot of them over history in other combat sports. Maybe not the huge
02:05names that Conor became with the UFC and MMA. But I mean, Ireland definitely has its history of
02:10fighters. And now him saying basically that Dagestan is way above them. Of course, we know
02:15his family and his gym has, you know, permeated throughout the MMA world. But do you think that
02:21this rivalry really exists? Or is it more on a personal level that we've had, you know, some of
02:25these fighters, man to man versus instead of country versus country? Well, look, the Nurmagomedov
02:33clan, the family, if you want to call it that, they're not really trash talkers. It's more about
02:37if you say something to them, they're going to respond in a way. And this is what Habib does.
02:41You know, if Conor never messed with Habib, Habib wouldn't say anything, wouldn't have said anything.
02:46And for Habib, he's just always confident. So for him to say, I'm going to smash everyone,
02:49I'm going to do this. It's just his mental state. That's just how he is with the confidence level.
02:54You know, to me, win or lose, it doesn't matter whose country is better because at the end of
02:58the day, it's still one-on-one. The countries aren't going to change tomorrow. Conor will
03:02not even be in Hughes' corner. We already know that stuff. You know, I think it's good for build
03:07up. It gives the fight a little bit more of that oomph to a little more pizzazz, a little bit more
03:10flavor. Sometimes fights aren't, they don't need that extra, but hey, if the fighters, I like when
03:16fighters get on the mic and they talk, you know, it makes the buildup. It's like a WWE building up
03:22matches and rivalries is what gets things excited. That's marketing one-on-one. So do I think it's a
03:26true country versus country rivalry? No, because there's some truth to what Habib said. I mean,
03:31outside of Conor, there hasn't been a ton of successful Irish MMA fighters, but Paul Hughes,
03:36who knows, you know, Habib's doing a good job with his lineage, with his legacy, building a team.
03:42I think Hughes is not fighting for Ireland. I think Hughes should be fighting for Hughes,
03:46and that's exactly what he's going to do. And he's been doing his part out there, you know,
03:51saying what he wants to say out there. Visited the U.S., was out there with the Celtics and the
03:56Brusingas. It was, you know, hanging out in New York, was pouring Guinness in Boston. So he's
04:00been out there promoting the fight as well. And we will see, you know, if it lives up to the hype
04:04that it has been given with these guys, hopefully it does. The co-main event has changed a couple
04:08times. We've had, you know, Nemcov, the former Bellator light heavyweight champion, moving up
04:13to heavyweight here. Had an opponent, then it became a trilogy versus Anderson. Now that's
04:19scrapped too, and we get him versus Tim Johnson. I was intrigued when it was him, Anderson, because
04:23both these guys kind of going up in weight. Now that it's against a guy who's been heavyweight
04:27his whole career, not the greatest record, but who had a nice run through the regular season for
04:31the PFL last year, Johnson, what do you think this is for Nemcov? Do you think it's a tougher
04:35challenge for him going against the guy who's been this heavier opponent for a long time?
04:40I mean, look, let's call it what it is here. Johnson is probably driving his livestock truck,
04:46got the call because they ran out of options. You know, the Anderson fight fell through.
04:50Ante Delea got booked, then he got injured. Now, Nemcov is so good. It doesn't matter what
04:55the heavyweight division is. You know, I love Tim Johnson as a person. He's fun.
04:59He'll throw hands for round one, but if he doesn't get the knockout, he's going to get
05:02destroyed. Nemcov is the real deal. They did this to keep Nemcov on the card. Johnson answered the
05:08call. I just hope he gets something somewhat competitive past round one. I think Johnson's
05:13going to be very honest, just like he was against Daniel Marquez, where he said, if I didn't get
05:16the knockout round one, I was going to lose. I think we're going to see a very similar situation
05:21here. I am hoping to see more of Nemcov, though, in the future against a more suitable opponent,
05:26that makes sense, in whatever division he decides to fight in.