Conor McGregor continues to take the low road when it comes to fellow Irish fighter Paul Hughes, who lost a controversial rematch against Usman Nurmagomedov on Friday night (Oct. 3, 2025) at PFL Champions Series 3.
Hughes and Usman had an extremely competitive scrap that many watching scored 48-47 for both fighters. The judges disagreed, handing Usman lopsided scores that have been described as ‘disgraceful’ and opened questions as to how fair of a shake fighters can get in Dubai.
Conor McGregor didn’t
get into details on the fight, instead slinging what was clearly an insult at Hughes.
“Fart in the wind,” McGregor tweeted before deleting the X post soon after.
McGregor has taken every opportunity to put down Hughes since footage came out following the first Hughes vs. Nurmagomedov fight that “The Notorious” considered disrespectful. The bout had been marketed as Ireland vs. Dagestan 2, following McGregor’s infamous feud with Khabib Nurmagomedov. Hughes approached Khabib after losing to say he wasn’t playing into that.
“I’m not like this other guy, I’m my own man,” Hughes said. “I’m not like this other guy. The media try and make us not respect [each other], but you know I always have respect.”
“Lick my arse I’m farting in your face,” McGregor tweeted (and deleted). “Foreign hairy hole arse licker. Up the real Irish, f–k these vermin f–ks. Get that flag off you, you little know what you are c–t from up there.”
Paul Hughes is from Derry, Northern Ireland and McGregor’s suggestion that Northern Irish aren’t ‘real Irish’ was another big hit to his popularity with people from his home country.
It seems like McGregor hasn’t forgotten about Hughes, although he’s banking on the general population forgetting about him following this second loss to Usman Nurmagomedov. Despite the loss, though, we see Hughes’ stock only going up. This is the second time controversy has surrounded a razor thin loss to Nurmagomedov, considered one of the best fighters in Khabib’s current stable.
The future is bright for Paul Hughes. We’ll see what happens with McGregor, who insists he’ll compete in mid-2026 on the UFC’s infamous White House card.
