Irish star Paul Hughes is off of PFL Belfast due to an injury.
Hughes announced Wednesday via Instagram that a knee injury has forced him out of his April 16 lightweight bout against Jay-Jay Wilson, which was to headline the event in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Watch Hughes’ statement below.
“Without going into too much detail, I picked up a knee injury in preparations and having explored every option it just isn’t possible for me to carry on training,” Hughes said. “I’ve consulted with my team alongside top professionals and unfortunately this injury cannot be pushed through anymore. I will be having surgery very soon to fix this issue. This is the game of mixed martial arts. It’s the highest highs and the lowest lows and this is one of the lowest lows. I am absolutely crushed. I think everyone knows how much this means to me to bring PFL back to Belfast. To not only showcase my skills, but to also highlight the talent that we have on this island in front of the world. From the bottom of my heart, I want to apologize to all of my supporters and everyone that I’ve let down, especially those that have spent their hard-earned money on tickets on flights to come and see me fight at home. That will never, ever sit well with me, and I will never be OK with it, and it will always eat at me that I cannot deliver.
“This is the unfortunate reality of the sport. I’m due now to have surgery very soon and that begins my next chapter, the road to recovery. I want to be back in the cage as soon as humanly possible to right this wrong. It has been a wild journey since joining the PFL and it’s going to be very hard to sit out now for some months with everything I’m working so hard to achieve, but this is now a part of the story. Every obstacle that’s ever been thrown my way has always propelled me to new heights. I’m going to get through this and I’m going to come back better than ever. This goal has not changed. I’m still going to the top of this entire sport and I’ll see you there.”
No timetable is available for Hughes’ recovery. The 28-year-old was looking to get back in the win column following a second title fight loss to rival Usman Nurmagomedov this past October.
Shortly after the news broke, PFL CEO John Martin announced that Darragh Kelly (9-0) will replace Hughes in the main event and fight Wilson (11-2). Kelly was scheduled to fight Sergio Cossio (19-11-1) on the card, so Bellator featherweight veteran Pedro Carvalho (14-10) is moving up a division and stepping in to fight Cossio instead.
UFC and Cage Warriors veteran Rhys McKee was also announced to make his league debut in the PFL Belfast co-main event, with an opponent still to be determined.
See the updated PFL Belfast lineup below.
Darragh Kelly vs. Jay-Jay Wilson
Pedro Carvalho vs. Sergio Cossio
Ciaran Clarke vs. Dean Garnett
Caolan Loughran vs. Alan Philpott
Dovlet Yagshimuradov vs. Tyson Pedro
Chris Mixan vs. Eoin Sheridan
Sean Gauci vs. Liam Gittins
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