Hughes defeats King on Bellator debut in Dublin

Home fighter Paul Hughes started his Bellator career with an impressive second-round knockout win over Bobby King at the 3Arena in Dublin.

In his first Bellator fight after leaving Cage Warriors, Hughes took a commanding victory against experienced Hawaiian King.

Speaking after the 12th victory of his career, Hughes said he believed he was going to be "the best in the world".

“That was the first one out of the way. I’ve been saying for about a year now that I believe I am one of the best lightweights on the planet, in any organisation," Hughes told Dan Hardy in the cage.

"I don’t think I showed that tonight, so I’m going to be in the gym on Monday, hungrier than ever. I have to live up to my words.

"I don’t care what anyone else says, I care what I say, and I said I’m going to be the best in the world. I have to prove it to myself, and I will.”

The bout got off to an exciting, fast-paced start, with both men landing shots early in the opening round.

King however landed the first significant strike and dropped Hughes with a solid jab.

Hughes immediately recovered and started to push the pace, putting King under real pressure as the round progressed.

The second round started in a similar style to the first, with both men landing explosive shots. Hughes managed to close the distance and take the American down, and from there the writing was on the wall.

It was a dominant display on the ground from Hughes as he landed powerful ground and pound, opening up a huge cut on the right eye of King.

As Hughes continued to reign down elbows, the referee stepped in to call a stop to the contest.

It was a mixed night for the rest of the local fighters on the card, with Sinead Kavanagh picking up her second consecutive loss in a second-round submission defeat by Australia's Arlene Blencowe.

Kavanagh landed the majority of the cleaner strikes in the first round before being dropped by Blencowe late.

The second round saw Blencowe push forward and she dropped Kavanagh once again to claim her second win against the Dubliner with a guillotine finish.

Darragh Kelly moved to 6-0 as a professional with a first-round submission victory in his first fight back since injury, against French prospect Mathias Poiron.

It took just under ninety seconds for the heavy favourite to scramble to position, secure the guillotine choke, and put his opponent to sleep to remain undefeated.

Finglas native Nathan Kelly picked up the 11th win of his career to date in front of the home crowd, with a first round submission over Spaniard Jose Sanchez. .

The opening bout of the evening saw Dublin’s Nate Kelly claim the fourth victory of his amateur career, with a first round arm-bar finish against Team Ryano’s Paul Nolan.