Paul Hughes isn’t sparing a second thought on Conor McGregor’s social media outbursts directed at him.
Hughes is fresh off a hard-fought five-round war at PFL Champions Series: Road to Dubai, where he dropped a majority decision to lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov this past Saturday — a performance that initially even had McGregor singing his praises.
However, all hell broke loose after a video of "Big News" sharing an in-cage moment with Khabib Nurmagomedov in the aftermath of his fight went viral on social media, where he attempted to distance himself from McGregor. The clip ultimately caught the attention of "The Notorious" himself.
McGregor lashed out at Hughes, firing off a series of now-deleted tweets that mocked his fellow Irishman and targeted his Northern Irish roots. In reply, the 27-year-old first extended a measure of respect to McGregor, all the while probing the former UFC two-division champion’s mental clarity.
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During a recent appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show, Hughes broke down McGregor's social media outburst, calmly stating that he wasn’t the slightest bit offended by the UFC superstar’s public tirade.
"Big News" explained that he understands McGregor’s tendency to let his emotions run wild online, brushing off the insults with an air of indifference.
I wasn't offended at all," Hughes said. "A lot of people in Ireland, especially in Northern Ireland, could be deeply affected by the things he said, but I'm not actually offended or didn’t take it personally at all because it sounds bad, but it just seems like another day in his life—just tweeting madness. It's not like I saw that and went, 'Oh, you know what, I can't believe he said this about me.' I think it's just another day in his life for him, and I just don't have any opinion on it anymore... In fact, I just laughed at it when I saw it. It's not something that I’ve been thinking about all day.
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Hughes, who had originally extended an invitation to "The Notorious" to be in his corner for the Nurmagomedov fight, went on to express that while he has always respected what McGregor has done for the sport, the 36-year-old Irishman's words no longer resonate with him.
I've always shown respect to Conor at every opportunity. I’ve consistently called him the greatest to ever do it, and I’ll always believe that. But honestly, it just didn’t bother me coming from him because his words don’t carry the same weight anymore.