You know what, Paulie Malignaggi has a point.
The beef between Conor McGregor and Paulie Malignaggi got really old, really quickly. The talks of those two settling their dispute inside the ring have thankfully quietened as fans want to see MMA’s biggest superstar return to the Octagon.
McGregor has a belt to defend, a trilogy to complete and, after being outclassed in his professional boxing debut, the hype surrounding a potential return to the ring has significantly dampened.
So trash-talk such as the venom ‘the Notorious’ spat at the Glasgow Q&A hasn’t gained as much traction as it would have pre-Money Fight.
“Paulie on the other hand he’s talking enough shit. I know he’s stuck for some money. I know he’s looking for a fight. He’s talking about ‘bring your balls’ and do this and do that. Bring your balls and fight in a real fight.”
Had the fans screaming along https://t.co/SUviwpxs9M
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) September 30, 2017
There is also the issue of the sparring footage. That’s the whole reason why Malignaggi rage-quit the camp after being brought in as a training partner in the first place. He was upset with a leak that made him look bad, then there were more leaks that made him look even worse.
While McGregor did look like he was having his way with the former two-weight world champion in the short clips, the footage only represented a few seconds of 20 rounds of sparring. Plus, the whole issue of whether it was a knockdown or a push down has never been definitively resolved.
Malignaggi has maintained that it was clever editing, the camera angle was inconclusive and that he would beat McGregor around the ring, despite entering into the camp off the couch. Obviously, the MMA side of the equation stated that it was a one-sided beatdown in favour of their guy.
He got his ass kicked in sparring n that was me at 20%, there's a reason he's talkin bout me yet no sign of the full spar vid, smarten up. https://t.co/9r7mD9X2j2
— Paul Malignaggi (@PaulMalignaggi) October 1, 2017
All that Malignaggi asks is that the full, unedited sparring footage gets released so that the people can see for themselves. UFC president Dana White told Sky Sports that he would have no problem unveiling the session to the world, but McGregor did not want to give away his gameplan ahead of the Money Fight, so they kept it under wraps.
“I have no problem releasing the full tape, the problem is that Conor doesn’t want Mayweather to see everything that he is doing and everything that he is working on.”
Now that the world has seen McGregor’s gameplan fail against arguably the greatest defensive boxer ever, he surely has nothing to lose from releasing the ‘one-sided annihilation’. Considering McGregor has engaged in PPV interviews in the past, releasing the full sparring footage as a PPV would probably earn him a serious wedge.
So what’s the big hold up?
