Written by Bruno Miranda beat Patricky Pitbull | Matt Ferris, PFL
Irish star Paul Hughes will headline PFL Europe’s first card of the year on May 10 against Bruno Miranda, a man who has seen him in action before he became a pro fighter.
Hughes rose to stardom as Cage Warriors champion before inking a deal with Bellator to beat AJ McKee Jr. and then lose a super close majority decision to their champion Usman Nurmagomedov under the PFL banner. “Robusto” Miranda, a veteran of 22 MMA bouts and dozens of kickboxing and muay thai matches, saw Hughes’ success under the same banner. And that’s when his friends realized Hughes and Miranda once shared the same mat before in Thailand.
Miranda had lived in Phuket for over a decade and remembers watching Hughes train there in 2016, back when the Irish talent was still an amateur MMA fighter.
“I remember we were on the same training at Tiger, and he was quite young,” Miranda told MMA Fighting. “I’m happy to be fighting him now, someone I admire. I got to see his growth, so it’s an honor to be doing this main event against him in Ireland, a fight nation like Brazil.”
Hughes’ hype only grew after the contested defeat to Nurmagomedov in January. Fans have clamored for an immediate rematch, so Miranda sees this as “a huge opportunity for me.” The Brazilian talent doesn’t think it automatically sets him up for a shot at the lightweight belt with an upset, but it definitely changes the way he’s viewed by the MMA community.
“He’s had a solid career, and his last fight was great,” Miranda said. “I think he won, but that’s it. I’m here to break the odds, to break the favorites. It really is an honor, I respect him and [the] entire Irish nation. I’m going there with the utmost respect to bring the fire and get the victory.”
“I’ll be the thorn in his side,” he continued. “I have no expectations for after this fight. I’m not looking past anything, but I want to be the thorn in his side and bring the victory. [A title shot] could be possible, but I like to think step by step. Whatever comes next is a bonus. The main goal is to beat him. I’ll be happy with anything PFL offers me after.”
Miranda won a decision against former Bellator lightweight champion Patricky Pitbull in his most recent bout in June 2024, rebounding from back-to-back defeats to PFL champion Olivier Aubin-Mercier and ex-Bellator titleholder Brent Primus, and plans to test Hughes’ striking at the SSE Arena in Belfast.
“A fight is a fight and every match-up is unique,” Miranda said. “I can’t compare myself with his last fight because the styles are different, but he’s the type of fighter that puts pressure — and I love that. I’m an aggressive fighter at all times, and I wanna see how he deals with the pressure of being with a real striker in front of him.”