According to UFC President Dana White, Showtime refused to use a large amount of sparring footage between Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather that they had offered them for their ‘All Access’ series.
“The last thing I want to do is get in a beef with Showtime, but we gave them a ton of the footage of the (Malignaggi vs. McGregor) sparring, and they denied it – because they didn’t want to make Paulie look bad,” White told reporters during a small media scrum yesterday. “They had a ton of the sparring footage, and they wanted to use zero (of it).”
The suggestion there appears to be that Showtime would be reluctant to use footage that reflected badly on Malignaggi, who serves as a boxing analyst for the company and is current scheduled to do so for the Mayweather Vs McGregor fight next week in Las Vegas.
White also doubled down on a previous statement made on Sky Sports on Monday that Malignaggi made the right choice by quitting McGregor’s camp due to the punishment he had endured.
“As far as his health goes, he made the right decision to leave that camp,” White said. ” … I think he made the decision for his health, and I think it was the right decision. And I’m not talking (expletive). What do I care? It makes no difference in my life whatsoever.
“This was a deal between Conor and this boxer and whatever. But I’m just telling you he made the right decision for his health, because it was a 12-round straight ass-whooping. It was as bad an ass-whooping as I’ve ever seen.”
