The ongoing feud between Conor McGregor and Paulie Malignaggi has taken an unexpected turn.
In a bizarre rant, Malignaggi has claimed that McGregor has sexual feelings for him and is trying to get the former two-weight world champion to notice him.
The tirade comes a week after McGregor mocked Malignaggi for continuing to “bitch” about the now-infamous sparring sessions between the pair in 2017.
There is no end in sight for the animosity between Malignaggi and ‘The Notorious’ and the ex-boxer has taken the rivalry in an unusual direction in a recent interview.
“It’s kind of weird now because if he’d just put out the video then everyone would stop talking about it,” Malignaggi told Behind the Gloves.
“I’m starting to really think this guy has a thing for me, it’s kind of a weird vibe I’m getting from him. Why do you want me to think about you so much when I don’t need to think about you? Why am I still on your mind? Why wouldn’t you just put out the video and we can both forget about everything because everybody can make up their own minds about the sparring?
“This is not homophobic or anything but I’m starting to feel like it’s a weird gay thing. As a man I have my rights and I don’t like another man coming on to me like that.
“I don’t go that way and I have the right to be a straight man if I want to be. I don’t feel like I want to go that way but I feel like he wants me on his mind.
“Again, if he just puts out the video then we can both go our separate ways and let everybody make up their minds.
“I think he has this curiosity about me and he’s seeing if he can pique my interest in him but I don’t go that way, Connie.”
After McGregor’s October defeat to Khabib Nurmagomedov, the Irishman’s head coach revealed that Malignaggi remained an option for his next fight.
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Rumours about a boxing match being discussed between McGregor and Malignaggi, who retired from boxing two years ago, have since done the rounds but nothing has been confirmed as of yet.
Malignaggi continues to demand that full footage of his sparring sessions with McGregor is released to clear up once and for all who enjoyed the better of the exchanges in the gym.
He continued: “The guy’s gay though, and I don’t have anything against that but I’m not gay so don’t come at me that way please, I have rights as a straight guy.
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“Don’t sexually harass me this way. I want to go my own way. God bless, you can do what you want; if your wife knows you suck cock you can both be in on it together.
“I don’t care if you suck cock or not but I don’t want you going near mine, I don’t want to discuss that but I’m starting to feel that if he doesn’t want to fight me but wants to keep bringing me up, that’s the only thing that this could possibly be.
“This could be some closeted issue that he has that he needs to come out and face. I’m sorry but I don’t have that issue and I don’t want to go that way with him.”
