Paulie Malignaggi has been generating more headlines than Conor McGregor’s upcoming opponent Floyd Mayweather over the past week, and now he’s looking to capitalize on that by lining himself up as the Irish superstar’s next opponent.
Malignaggi’s anger at the way he was treated before quitting McGregor’s camp was still palpable yesterday during his interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour show, and with recent photos and videos emerging from his sparring sessions with McGregor having painted him in a bad light, the former two-weight world champion now feels a fight between them is the only way forward.
“When you don’t like somebody, you don’t spar them, you fight them,” Malignaggi told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour show yesterday.
“You either fight them, or you just never mention them at all.
“This weirdo didn’t do either of those things. He constantly put me in the press with these edited videos, edited pictures and what not.
“Now, it’s picked up a ton of momentum. So yeah.
“So now the bad blood is there. Now we’ve gotta fight.”
However, at this stage Malignaggi isn’t sure whether the fight will ever happen, admitting that much will hinge on how McGregor fares against Mayweather later this month.
“It’s not up to me. Right now, I’m focused on how he looks against Mayweather. If he looks like dog sh*t against Mayweather, I don’t think anybody is gonna want to see him box again. So first and foremost, we have to see what happens the 26th, how it happens the 26th as well.”
