Paul Hughes knows a thing or two about exciting fights. As one half of 2021’s FIGHT PASS Fight of the Year, Hughes is quite knowledgeable when it comes to giving the fans something to scream about.
“I’ve actually won Fight of the Year before that, as well, against Jordan (Vucenic), so this is going to be the rematch, but this is not going to be Fight of the Year,” Hughes warned. “This is going to be KO of the Year.”
It’s impossible not to take Hughes’ words seriously. He’s seemingly never had a boring fight and his fans have seemed to double every fight as a result. Do Irish fight fans need another reason to be the most dedicated fans in the world? No. But Hughes sure gives them one.
Just when the world thought nobody in Cage Warriors could possibly have crazier and more devoted fans than 145-pound Frenchman, Morgan Charriere, Hughes fought him and that arena was split right down the middle.
“It was the first Cage Warriors show since the pandemic that had fans back. And they put out,” Hughes said. “We knew Morgan had a crazy fan base coming into it and, of course, the Irish. Everybody knows they’re crazy, but we didn’t expect the magnitude of what actually happened that night with the crazy amount of banners and T-shirts. It was just madness.”
With a title shot on the line, Hughes and Charriere went blow for blow from start to finish.
Hughes admits that the fight was even more wild than he was expecting. He knew he was capable of jaw-dropping performances, and he knew his fans were behind him, but the Paul Hughes that walked into the Cage Warriors 128 cage was far different than the Paul Hughes who walked out of the Cage Warriors 120 cage and his fanbase was too.
“I think people sort of watched the last one and were like, ‘We’re witnessing something special,’” Hughes theorized. “‘We’re witnessing the big come-up of an Irish fighter and we’ve got to get behind this man.’ I think that’s what you’re going to see in March. I think it’s going to be a lot better, to be completely honest.”
It’s hard to imagine a performance topping his five-round war with Charriere. It’s hard to imagine Vucenic topping his five-round war with Charriere, but somehow, some way, Hughes sees himself and his fans turning even more fans to his side than they did last October.
Catch the return of Paul Hughes on March 18 as he takes on Cage Warriors Featherweight Champion Jordan Vucenic at Cage Warriors 134, LIVE, ONLY on UFC FIGHT PASS!
