There was a time when Ireland vs. Dagestan 2, an event that witnessed a war between Usman Nurmagomedov and Paul Hughes, had excited Conor McGregor, arguably to the core. ‘The Notorious’ sent all of his good wishes to ‘Big News’ and even defended him following his loss via a unanimous decision. However, everything changed when Hughes showed his appreciation towards McGregor’s former rival, Khabib Nurmagomedov. “I am not like the other guy. I am my own man.” These are the words that triggered the former UFC double champion, and he annihilated Hughes on the internet. And while we thought the fire had died down, it was apparently still smoldering.
Of course, the beef rose with McGregor lashing out at Hughes’ pride as an Irish mixed martial artist. Not only did he question the PFL star’s nationality, but also asked him to take the Irish flag down from his shoulders. He did exercise his habit of putting up tweets and deleting them, too. But all things had one thing in common. McGregor had begun to see ‘Big News’ as someone who’s not Irish. On top of that, he also shared a few edited pictures of Hughes that depicted that he was affiliated with the Dagestani team. One of the edits had him in a papakha, while another showed him licking a boot.
And now, after almost a week of the heat, the former UFC champ-champ took to Instagram and shared a video of himself working on a bag. McGregor displayed his left hook and right uppercut in the video. But it was the caption that caught the eye of the fighting community. After all, it was a slight jibe at Hughes. ‘The Notorious’ wrote, “THE MOST KNOCKOUTS IN IRISH MMA HISTORY.” The same words were reflected in the caption of the 36-year-old Irishman’s IG story.
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Well, Conor McGregor does take immense pride in his professional MMA record. Needless to say, having 19 out of 22 wins by knockouts is nothing short of a flabbergasting feat. On the other hand, Hughes has only 6 wins by knockout, out of his total 13 victories. But let’s return to the fire burning between McGregor and Hughes. After ‘The Notorious’ bashed ‘Big News’ with his tweets, Hughes must have felt really bad. And if you thought so too, you’re in for a treat!
How did Paul Hughes react to Conor McGregor’s insults?
Even though McGregor tried his best to be hurtful towards Hughes, he didn’t seem to succeed. ‘Big News’ claimed that he wasn’t offended at all. He did realize that many Irish people were deeply offended by McGregor’s words, but that was not who ‘Big News’ was. Well, that’s what he claimed during his appearance on Ariel Helwani’s talk show. But one thing was certain. Hughes was sad about McGregor’s words towards him.
Weighing in on the verbal battle with McGregor, Hughes quoted, “I’ve always paid Conor homage at every opportunity. I’ll always say that he’s the greatest to ever do it. Always will. I’ll always believe that. But nah, man, it honestly just didn’t really bother me coming from him, because I just don’t put much weight on what he says anymore — which, honestly, is kind of a sad thing.”
Of course, Hughes wasn’t alone in this fight. Khabib Nurmagomedov also took to social media to back the young Irishman up against his former UFC rival. It was as if Nurmagomedov was left with no choice. After all, Hughes saying “not like the other guy” was a result of ‘The Eagle’s invitation to Hughes to visit Dagestan. And ‘Big News’ did admit the error in his words. But the damage was already done. McGregor wasn’t going to put the hatchet down anytime soon.
What do you think of McGregor’s jibe? Do you think Hughes will react to him being the Irish MMA fighter with most KOs? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.
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