Paulie Malignaggi is not happy.
McGregor and his former sparring partner’s rivalry during their 20 intense sparring rounds hasn’t ceased at the end of sparring, in fact the hatred was only beginning.
The former two-weight world boxing champion cited his reason for quitting the camp as a deliberate leaking of photos from the McGregor camp in an attempt to enhance the image of their man, and in turn making him look like a pauper.
After leaving the camp, Malignaggi has been no-holes-barred in his smear campaign on McGregor.
The 36-year-old was speaking during an explosive MMA Hour on Monday when he dished the dirt on The Notorious.
During the above mentioned sparring session, when the complimentary sparring photos of McGregor, but none-too of Malignaggi – with him lying on the ground – were shared on Social Media, this was a last straw.
“This guy is one of the biggest dirtbags I’ve ever met in my life – bar none,” he said. “I was amazed at what a dirtbag this person is. I don’t care if we never speak again,” said Malignalli.
“It makes me doubt if he ever really went through a tough time in his life like they try to say he did. If somebody went through that tough a time in life just a few years ago, they wouldn’t treat people who were not as fortunate as him that bad.”
The trend of the American’s interview was the same throughout as he launched assault after assault on McGregor’s character, but he crucially pinpointed the exact moment his opinion truly changed on McGregor.
“After that sparring, I thought we had buried the hatchet,” he said.
“We took a picture in the ring. Everybody gave us a hand. We just did 12 hard rounds, it didn’t matter who got the better of it, there is a respect thing after you spend 36 minutes in a ring with a guy and you’re trying to beat the s**t out of each other.
“In the dressing room I passed by Conor and he said ‘good work’ and I said ‘yeah, good work Conor.’ I thought we had buried the hatchet and I was thinking that maybe I didn’t need to be so on-edge in the camp anymore.”
“Then I said, ‘Conor, do me a favor, bro. No more of these crazy pictures,'” Malignaggi asked.
“I told Conor that it becomes very hard for me to not disclose the NDA (non-disclosure agreement) that I have when you’re putting up pictures of me.”
“I had this conversation with Conor after the second sparring in the dressing room and this is probably when I realized what a dickhead this guy is because at that moment we had just done 12 hard rounds and there’s a respect that I’m feeling, at least.”
“Instead, he looks at me and he gives me this smirk, laughs at me and he starts walking away from me.
“He gives me his back, he’s walking away towards the showers and he’s like, ‘Ha ha, I don’t know Paulie. We got some good ones in those last two rounds. I don’t know about that.’
“At this stage I’m waiting for Ashton Kutcher to walk into the dressing rooms and tell me I got Punk’d. I thought it was a joke. I thought there was no way this guy is that much of an asshole.”
Explosive.
