Paul Hughes ditches idea of having Conor McGregor in his corner against Usman Nurmagomedov amid legal battle: "Things were just being thrown out"

Paul Hughes is no longer interested in the idea of Conor McGregor cornering him for his upcoming fight.

On Oct. 19, an Irish MMA superstar was born when Hughes defeated AJ McKee at the PFL's Battle of the Giants PPV. Heading into the matchup, the 27-year-old was widely considered one of the biggest prospects in the sport, which he proved by taking out the well-respected McKee.

Following his impressive performance, Hughes mentioned the possibility of McGregor, an Irish legend, being in his corner for his next fight. Since then, 'The Notorious' has received significant backlash after being found liable for assault in a civil lawsuit, in which he was of sexually assaulting Nikita Hand.

Hughes recently did an interview with MMA Fighting and denied any interest in pursuing McGregor as a cornerman for his title fight next month:

"The whole corner thing, that was a post-fight interview where things were just being thrown out there. Other than that, that just blew up and did the rounds on social media a couple of times."

Hughes continued by saying:

"Other than that, I haven't mentioned it or looked about anything to do with that. Obviously, with things going down now, it's not something I'm going to continue to pursue."

Paul Hughes' upcoming fight will be the toughest of his combat career. The 27-year-old is scheduled to challenge the undefeated Usman Nurmagomedov (18-0) for his Bellator lightweight title on Jan. 25, 2025.

McGregor's potential involvement in the fight, which has since been retracted, would involve his rivalry with Khabib Nurmagomedov. Usman is the first cousin of Khabib, while Hughes is from the same country as McGregor.

Watch Hughes talk about moving on from McGregor cornering him below:

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Paul Hughes looks to hand Usman Nurmagomedov his first professional MMA loss

Usman Nurmagomedov is the younger brother of upcoming UFC bantamweight title challenger Umar Nurmagomedov. As previously mentioned, the undefeated Russian lightweight is also a first cousin of all-time great Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Usman has followed in his family members' footsteps, separating himself as arguably the most talented fighter outside of the UFC. He now looks to defend his world title for the third time in his upcoming fight against Paul Hughes.

Hughes silenced many doubters by defeating AJ McKee in October. The 27-year-old has an opportunity to become one of PFL's biggest superstars if he can hand Nurmagomedov his first professional MMA loss.