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MMA

24th Feb 2017

WATCH: Northern Irish teen Paul Hughes absolutely demolishes opponent in pro debut

He's only 19

Ben Kiely

Northern Ireland’s Paul Hughes’ professional debut couldn’t have gone much better.

The 19-year-old showed absolutely no jitters as he walked out into the BAMMA cage for the first time at the Belfast event on Friday night.

Standing across from him was Poland’s Adam Gustab, who entered into the bout with a perfect 2-0 record. However, Hughes did not allow himself to become intimidated by having the disadvantage in the experience department. He showed nothing but confidence with his destructive debut.

The beginning of the end started with a flying knee attempt followed by a straight punch. The combination caused the Polish fighter to take a knee and as soon as he tried to get back to his feet, Hughes swarmed with a vicious flurry of punches.

Gustab managed to dig deep and somehow recover from the vicious assault. He fired back with some punches of his own, then tried to move out of danger. Hughes followed him and timed his punches perfectly until his opponent had to clinch. This provided no breathing room at all as his body and head was brutalised with knees until they separated.

Hughes knew Gustab was in trouble. A few more solid punches up top was enough to send Gustab crashing down to the canvas and earn an unforgettable knockout at the 1:32 mark of the first round.