Check out these photos from Paul Hughes' unanimous decision victory over A.J. McKee at PFL: Battle of the Giants at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Photos courtesy of PFL MMA)

Battle of the giants kicked off with a huge lightweight matchup between AJ McKee and Paul Hughes. One of the PFL's highest-profile free agent acquisitions during the last year, Hughes debuted in the co-main event of Bellator Champions Series: Dublin in June and stopped Bobby King in the second round.

Paul Hughes’ striking proved to be too much for A.J. McKee in the main card opener of PFL: Battle of the Giants.

Despite McKee’s years of dominance across the divisions in Bellator, it appeared that the focus of the pre-fight build-up was on Irish prospect. A former Cage Warriors champion, Hughes opted against joining the UFC this summer in favour of a bigger money deal with the PFL.

How many punches do you think you can throw in three minutes? “Go to work! Come on! Push, push, push!” With the time variable set at 180 seconds, peppering a heavy bag as fast as you can? “Rrrrrrrrrapapapapa!

Paul Hughes called his shot with a split decision win over AJ McKee and now he’s looking for Bellator gold after calling out Usman Nurmagomedov.