PFL EUROPE, BELFAST – RECAP

One of the historic nights of sport in the island of Ireland happened on Saturday night, 10th May. Paul ‘Big News’ Hughes had a long awaited homecoming at PFL Europe, Belfast and was it worth the wait.

Starting off with the card, Corey McLaughlin faced the confident Nahom Wedi in a Lightweight bout. Both men had success on the feet but McLaughlin did enough to sway the judges in his favour by unanimous decision. That was McLaughlins first ever professional MMA victory. Nahom Wedi on the other hand, made his debut but he will learn from this defeat and come back stronger.

Scotland’s Gemma Auld faced Manchester’s Sammy-Jo Luxton in a Flyweight bout. In the first round, everything seemed to go Luxton’s way, piecing Auld up on the feet. It looked certain that she would get the finish, however in the second round, Gemma Auld found her flow and got her gameplan working as she started to get success on the floor. Auld controlled Luxton on the mat for the majority of the second round before she found an opportunity to win via rear-naked choke.

Next up was SBG Ireland’s Eoin ‘The Sheriff’ Sheridan as he faced Manchester Top Team’s Malachi Edwards. In the very first 30 seconds, Sheridan dropped Edwards with a clean right hand and tried to get the finish but Edwards’ defence was enough to stop this entourage of strikes. Sheridan got Edwards against the fence and landed some nasty elbows, before separating and finding the massive left hook shot that finished the fight. Sheridan now moves to 3-0 as a professional and this was his best performance to date, he is one to watch for sure.

Another SBG Ireland fighter in Claudio Pacella,, faced Liverpool’s Gavin Hughes. This fight was an absolute slugfest with Pacella advancing his way to the semi final’s in the European tournament. Pacella will face the winner of Chizov and Ewen.

Next up was Aleksandr Chizov and he faced Mark Ewen. The winner of this bout faces Pacella in the semi final’s of the European Tournament. The fight started and Chisov was dominated the entire way through before he caught Ewen on the temple with a left hook and followed up with nasty ground and pound before the referee seen enough and stopped the fight. Chisov will now face Claudio Pacella in the Semi Finals.

Haider Khan was up next fighting hometown lad and Fight Academy Ireland’s Sean McCormack. Khan used his wrestling through the majority of the 3 rounds and convincingly won the entire 3 rounds with a unanimous decision next. Khan moves to 10-1 as a pro and im excited to see whats next for him.

Newry’s own Decky McAleenan made his PFL debut and fought Gino Van Steenis, the brother of Costello who is scheduled to fight Johnny Eblen for the PFL Middleweight world title in Cape Town, South Africa later this year. The bell rung, and Gino Van Steenis used his wrestling ability in the first round dominating the dangerous Jiu Jitsu specialist in McAleenan. However the second round Decky had a much better round and started to find success on the feet as he dropped Van Steenis with a big right hand but couldn’t do enough to find the stoppage. Gino looked rocked still going back to his corner before the 3rd round started. Gino Van Steenis came out of the 3rd round knowing if he wins this round, he wins this fight by decision, and that’s ex what he done, using his wrestling to get his hand raised.

Liverpool’s own Connor Hughes was up next and he faced Sebastian De Franco in the second half of the Lightweight bracket in the European tournament. Connor Hughes, last year’s finalist losing to back to back European champion, Jakub Kaszuba. Connor Hughes was completely dominated throughout this fight before he caught De Franco with a nasty right hand followed by left hook before putting Sebastian out cold in the second round. Connor Hughes faces Gino Van Steenis  in the Semi Finals next.

Manchester’s own Lewis McGrillen faced Alan Philpott in the co-main event. McGrillen had to fight Philpott in his backyard after not competing in his country for over a decade. Last years Bantamweight European Champion, McGrillen came out in the first round very fast and aggressive. We know Lewis McGrillen has a dangerous left hand and could put anyone out in his division, however he had Philpott wobbled in the second round with a big left hand. The veteran, Philpott found his own success aswell by mixing in some takedowns but that seemed to be a mistake as McGrillen not only proved he is a knockout artist but he found his first professional submission win via rear-naked choke in the second round silencing the Belfast crowd.

Main event time now and we have Belfast’s own Paul ‘Big News’ Hughes faced Brazilian Bruno Miranda. The crowd erupted as Paul Hughes walked out to a special Foy Vance singing ‘Grace’. Paul Hughes had the SSE Arena in the palm of his hands. He had dreamed of main eventing the SSE Arena and it could not have went any better for him. The bell rung and the atmosphere was beyond loud, in the first 30 seconds Paul Hughes caught a left high kick of Mirandas, before throwing Miranda into a massive left hook and dropping him and followed up with some nasty ground and pound, the referee had seen enough and stopped the fight and the crowd got even louder and louder. Hughes has cemented himself as Irelands newest superstar. The rematch with Usman Nurmagomedov has to be next and I can not wait to see how it unfolds.