McGregor Buries Hughes For Khabib Truce

Following his epic fight against current Bellator Lightweight Champion, Usman Nurmagomedov, at last weekend’s (Sat., Jan. 25, 2025) PFL: “Road to Dubai” event, Paul Hughes showed some love to Usman and his world-famous mentor, Khabib Nurmagomedov.

In fact, “The Eagle” himself took time to give props to Ireland while also inviting Hughes and his family to Dagestan, promising they would be welcomed with open arms. While the Nurmagomedov-Hughes bout was billed as “Dagestan vs. Ireland 2,” it seems their rivalry was put to bed after the fight.

That is, until Conor McGregor got involved.

Hughes and Usman were seen chatting it up inside the cage and the ever-present cameras caught some of their conversation. It appeared “Big News” was referring to McGregor when saying, “I am not like the other guy, I am my own man.”

It didn’t take long for the situation to escalate, with McGregor unleashing a scathing verbal attack toward Hughes, commanding him to surrender the Irish flag for the perceived disrespect. Naturally, “Big News” didn’t sit idly by, firing back a response of his own — but in a more respectful way.

“Get that flag off you, you little know-what-you-are c*nt from up there,” wrote McGregor in a since-deleted post on X. “Lick my arse, I’m farting in your face. Foreign hairy hole arse licker. Yup the real Irish f**k these vermin f**ks.”

“[McGregor], always said you were the GOAT, paid homage at every opportunity,” Hughes wrote in response. “But coming at my Irish identity just shows where your head is at.”

It was a drastic (but not uncommon) turnaround for McGregor, who initially praised Hughes for his performance against Nurmagomedov. That post, however, has also been deleted. I’m sure this comes as no surprise to longtime MMA fans, as “Notorious” has shown over the years that he has no issues turning on his longtime friends for any perceived disrespect.

Just ask this guy.