Paul Hughes Set For Homecoming Fight At May 10th PFL Europe Card

PFL will kick off its third European season with a card featuring one of its top stars from the region.

Belfast-raised contender Paul Hughes will headline the promotion’s return to the SSE Arena on May 10th against Brazilian vet Bruno Miranda, per a recent announcement from the promotion.

Hughes will be coming back for the first time since losing a razor-thin five-round majority decision result against Usman Nurmagomedov for the Bellator Lightweight Championship in January.

“Big News” spent less than a year in the PFL before ascending to a title opportunity. After a successful run in European promotion Cage Warriors, Hughes set himself up for a title opportunity by stopping Bellator vet Bobby King and getting past former champ AJ McKee Jr.

Now coming back from his first loss since late 2020, Hughes will meet a fighter who is coming off two years on PFL’s main tour.

Miranda fought in the PFL lightweight season from 2023 to 2024. He made it to the playoff round in his rookie run on the tour, getting into the semi-finals after back-to-back decision wins. However, he didn’t reach the finals after getting stopped by Olivier Aubin-Mercier.

A year later, Miranda wouldn’t qualify for the playoffs after going one-for-two in the season, getting submitted by Brent Primus but later bouncing back with a split decision over Patricky Pitbull.

The 34-year-old will be heading into enemy territory when he meets Hughes later this year.

It’s expected that PFL’s year-long European tournaments will kick off on the show, although no further information has been provided just yet.

For the past two years, PFL has hosted four single-elimination, eight-fighter brackets as part of its European tour. In 2024, the featured weight classes were men’s welterweight, lightweight, bantamweight, and women’s flyweight.