UFC President Dana White has a message for fight fans who want to see a boxing match between UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor and retired two-division boxing champ, Paulie Malignaggi.
“Do you think people really want to see Conor vs. Paulie Malignaggi? People want to see Conor fight in MMA. That’s what they want to see,” White told the “Real Quick with Mike Swick” podcast. “The Mayweather fight was a one-off, (expletive) crazy deal. This (MMA) is where he (McGregor) belongs, this is the sport he’s in, this is the sport he excels in and this is where he’s a world champion. This is where he needs to be."
Malignaggi recently revealed his representatives were in negotiations with the UFC regarding a boxing match with the UFC champ.
"I've been told by team Haymon that Al is on it and wants to make the fight and is or will be speaking to (UFC President) Dana (White),” Malignaggi told Forbes contributor Peter Kahn via text message. "For me it's the same narrative. He makes more money fighting me than he does any other opponent. Question is does he value his money more or his image more? Cause the price of taking the money is I'm gonna embarrass him in there."
Malignaggi’s desire for a fight with McGregor stems from a video the UFC released while Malignaggi was sparring with the Irish fighter as McGregor prepared for his August boxing match with Floyd Mayweather. The brief, edited clip showed an exchange where Malignaggi hit the canvas. McGregor and the UFC claimed the video showed a knockdown, while Malignaggi said he hit that mat after McGregor held his head and put him off balance.
Malignaggi has been adamant that the UFC should release all the footage of the 12-round sparring session. The UFC has yet to acquiesce to that request.
Shortly after the UFC released the video Malignaggi left McGregor’s camp. He then began his campaign to get a fight with the popular UFC fighter.
White seems to think the real reason Malignaggi stopped sparring with McGregor was due to the fact the retired boxer was going to be punished by the Irishman.
“Why did Paulie Malignaggi get up and walk out of camp after two sparring sessions? Because it was the right (expletive) thing to do. Because he was going to get hurt, because he was going to take damage that was going to affect him for the rest of his life that he didn’t need to (expletive) take. It’s not like they were paying him big money or he had a (expletive) fight coming up himself.
“Paulie Malignaggi got up and left camp, and he should have (expletive) got up and left camp because Conor was going to (expletive) hurt him badly. It’s no disrespect to the guy. It’s a fact. I was there. I watched the whole (expletive) sparring session. That guy needed to go home and he needed to leave Las Vegas.”
If the McGregor fight is not going to happen, Malignaggi could fight someone very close to the UFC kingpin. McGregor’s friend and training partner, UFC fighter Artem Lobov recently tweeted that he’d be willing to face Malignaggi in the ring.
