Paul Hughes comes clean on if he would accept a potential Conor McGregor apology

Conor McGregor has not entered the octagon in nearly four years, as his last appearance came at UFC 264 in July 2021 when he suffered a broken leg in his loss to Dustin Poirier. Despite his inactivity, 'The Notorious' remains among the biggest stars in the sport.

He recently took aim at Paul Hughes for showing respect to Khabib Nurmagomedov and his team following his majority decision loss to Usman Nurmagomedov at PFL Champions Series 1, taking aim at his Irish identity. 'Big News' shared his reaction to the comments during his recent appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show. When asked if he would accept an apology, Hughes stated:

"Not right now, anyway. Not right now. More so, not for me, but more so for my people from where I come from. What he said. I mean, I only kind of realized before I came on the show. I was scrolling Twitter and stuff, probably not a good idea. I kind of just realized, it's actually one of the worst possible things that you could say to a fellow Irishman in terms of how deeply insulting it can be to someone personally."

Hughes continued:

"As I said, I don't take it deeply personal, but people from my area certainly, certainly will. Where I come from, Derry, Derry has a very tumultuous history when it comes to Irish history. It's a very, very important place where a lot of important things has happened and it would be incredibly and deeply insulting to a lot of people where I'm from to say that we're not Irish."

Check out Paul Hughes' comments on Conor McGregor below (2:35):

Hughes added that he could easily have gone off on McGregor following his comments. He noted, however, that he does not put much weight in his fellow countryman's words.

---

Paul Hughes fired back at Conor McGregor's comments

Conor McGregor attempted to call out Paul Hughes' Irish identity in a since-deleted tweet, insinuating that the latter should not wear the Irish flag as he is from Northern Ireland. 'Big News' fired back on Wednesday, stating:

"@TheNotoriousMMA always said u were the goat, payed homage at every opportunity. But coming at my Irish identity just shows where your head is at."

Check out Paul Hughes' tweet to Conor McGregor below:

Hughes showed respect to McGregor's long-time rival Khabib Nurmagomedov following his clash with Usman Nurmagomedov. That led 'The Notorious' to take aim at his fellow countryman, who he had previously suggested he would corner for the bout.