������Ƶ

DUBAI: Back in January, PFL lightweight world champion Usman Nurmagomedov and top contender Paul Hughes put on a five-round instant classic that many hailed as a contender for fight of the year.

While Hughes pushed Nurmagomedov to the limit with a star-making performance, the Dagestani champion still left Dubai with the title following a majority decision nod.

For many fans and experts, Hughes’ performance was enough to warrant an immediate rematch. Even then, Hughes needed to earn his way back to a title shot, and he did so in spectacular fashion.

In the main event of this year’s PFL Europe debut in his hometown of Belfast, Northern Ireland, “Big News” Hughes starched Bruno Miranda in just 42 seconds to lock in another shot at the undefeated Nurmagomedov and the PFL title.

The two top-tier 155-pounders (70 kg) are slated to run it back at the “PFL Champions Series: Road to Dubai - The Rematch” card on Oct. 3 in Dubai. It is being touted as the biggest rematch in PFL history.

As impressive as Hughes has been, the champ believes a title shot has not been earned.

“When a fighter loses a title shot, he must work hard, win many fights, and then deserve a second chance,” Nurmagomedov explained at a recent PFL Media Day in Dubai.

“In my opinion, Paul has not earned this rematch, but it doesn’t matter. For me, I am ready.”

Cousin of the legendary Khabib Nurmagomedov, Usman has been carving out his own stellar career path. The 27-year-old Dagestani is 19-0, with notable victories over Patricky “Pitbull” Freire, Benson Henderson and Alexander Shabliy.

Hughes has been Nurmagomedov’s toughest test, and this time he promises not to take the exciting Irishman for granted.

“I always work very hard, morning and evening, like I have throughout my career. Paul is not on my level, but this time I will not underestimate him. I respect him, and I will do my best.”

While Hughes is the next man up, another challenger is waiting in the wings in the form of 2025 PFL World Tournament Lightweight Champion Alfie Davis.

Davis recently bested the dangerous Russian and former PFL Tournament Champion Gadzhi Rabadandov to claim gold and potentially set up a showdown against the winner of the title bout.

Nurmagomedov said: “Right now my full focus is on Paul Hughes. After this fight, I will face the PFL champion, Alfie, but today my mind is only on Paul.”

TOKYO: Noah Lyles revels in being a showman but the antics the Olympic 100 meters champion do on occasion upset rivals and officials. They will watch closely to see how the American behaves as he defends his 100m and 200m world titles in Tokyo.

Lyles, 28, comes into the world championships bidding to emulate Usain Bolt’s four successive global 200m crowns — and he was boosted by a thrilling win over Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo in the Diamond League final last month.

Lyles said he would head to Tokyo “with a lot of energy.”

His track exploits — the Zurich win sealed a record-breaking sixth Diamond League track trophy — and lively personality have gained Lyles the recognition he has long craved in the US.

A documentary series “Untitled: The Noah Lyles Project,” a prominent role in the Netflix series “Sprint” and an appearance on NBC’s “The Tonight Show” have raised his profile.

That kind of mainstream coverage is something which World Athletics chief Sebastian Coe said he hopes other American track and field athletes will attract with the Los Angeles Olympics just three years away.

Lyles loves putting on a show and before the Olympics in Paris last year he told GQ Sport the challenge for track and field was to persuade the public globally that the sport was also “entertainment.”

His predecessor as the dominant force in men’s sprinting, Usain Bolt, famously used his arms to replicate a lightning bolt before he raced.

The American goes way beyond that.

He even received a yellow card warning ahead of the Olympic 200m final last year for his over-exuberant entrance into the Stade de France, roaring like a lion and hitting his lane box so hard the number toppled to the ground.

Lyles — who left the track in a wheelchair after finishing third and later revealed he had COVID — also antagonized the usually imperturbable Kenny Bednarek at the US trials this year.

Bednarek was irked when Lyles turned his head to stare down his rival just before he took the tape in the 200m final.

Bednarek, a two-time Olympic 200m silver medallist, shoved Lyles in the back over that apparent taunt.

“That’s unsportsmanlike shit, and I don’t deal with that,” said Bednarek, who US team officials will hope has made up with Lyles as they pair up in the 4x100m relay team.

‘To give again’

Zharnel Hughes, who took bronze in the 2023 world 100m final, said “Sprint” proved saying Lyles had a “loose mouth.”

“This guy can talk!” the Briton said. “I knew he talked, but I didn’t know he talked that much. I was like, ‘this guy, man! Shut up.’“

Bednarek’s hackles may have been raised but Tebogo believes Lyles is more “humble” this year and “talks a lot less.”

That could be down to stress.

Lyles, who has had health issues throughout his life ranging from asthma to dyslexia and ADHD, has admitted to hiding away when he suffers from stress.

“I have to do what I love, which is like building Legos, making music, playing video games, you know, being with my friends,” he told GQ Sport.

“I need like four to five days of just that, and then the energy will naturally start coming back and then it’s like, OK, I’m ready to give again.”

His mother, former top college sprinter Keisha Caine Bishop, who brought up Lyles, his brother Josephus and sister Abby on her own, believes her son is making the most of being in the limelight.

She worries, though, about what happens once the new kid on the block arrives and replaces him.

“I was nowhere on his level,” she said in the same interview. “But... I know what it’s like to see yourself on TV, I know what it’s like to see your name in the newspaper constantly, and everybody recognizes your name.

“And then I know what it’s like when all of that goes away.”

Lyles has the chance in Tokyo to kick that moment further down the track.