Paulie Malignaggi clearly isn’t happy with Conor McGregor.
Malignaggi, a former boxing champion, pulled out of McGregor’s training camp last week as the UFC champion continues to train for his Aug. 26 boxing match with Floyd Mayweather Jr. Malignaggi had been serving as a sparring partner for McGregor, but photos from their in-ring work together were leaked online, which Malignaggi didn’t appreciate.
One photo, in particular, made it seem like McGregor scored a knockdown in sparring, something that Malignaggi vehemently denies. In fact, Malignaggi since has suggested he had his way with McGregor, even claiming The Notorious “whimpers like a girl” when punched in the body.
Malignaggi has been very active on Twitter dating back to last week, seemingly hell-bent on giving his side of the story. The aforementioned body shot claim seems to be what most people on social media are gravitating toward, though. And we probably haven’t heard the last from Malignaggi, who also called out McGregor’s “arrogance” during a television interview that aired Sunday night.
“My problem with Conor is his arrogance,” Malignaggi told WNYW. “His arrogance is to the point where he can’t progress. He can’t learn. He just wants a bunch of yes men around him.
“He doesn’t want to be told that he’s doing something wrong. He doesn’t want to be told that he needs to make progress, so that he needs to change certain things. Whatever he’s doing, he just wants to be told how great he’s doing.”
Malignaggi has been covering the Mayweather-McGregor buildup for Showtime, so it’ll be interesting to see if his displeasure with McGregor leaks over into his analysis of the upcoming bout.
