‘His whole life is about fooling people’ – Paulie Malignaggi on Conor McGregor bus attack

Conor McGregor's former sparring partner Paulie Malignaggi has said that the Dubliner had no intention of seeing Khabib Nurmagomedov when he attacked a bus carrying UFC fighters in Brooklyn earlier this month.

McGregor was arrested and brought to Brooklyn Criminal Court to face charges of criminal mischief, misdemeanor assault and menacing and reckless endangerment after he and his friends were filmed smashing a bus before UFC 223 last weekend. McGregor and his associates threw a variety of objects at the bus carrying Nurmagomedov and a host of other UFC fighters but Malignaggi believes that the damage caused was part of a wider publicity stunt by McGregor.

"If you have a problem with somebody, you go see them," Malignaggi told former UFC fighter Brendan Schuab on his Below The Belt podcast. "You go to the hotel and you wait for him to get off the bus. I've competed at Barclays Center and I've worked at Barclays Center many times and there's only two hotels that do the Barclays Center fights. "There's the Marriott on Adams Street in South Brooklyn and the Sheridan, I forget what street it's on but it's a little bit of a ghetto area not too far from the Barclays Center. "The Sheridan and the Marriott are the two hotels that house the fighters when there's fights on at the Barclays Center. Usually one side stays on one side and the other side stays on the other side in Brooklyn. "Conor knows where the guys are staying. If you want to go see Khabib, if you want to go see somebody, you go the hotel, he has to get off the bus and you'll see him there. "But come on he's had a year to fight this guy and he hasn't fought him. Conor doesn't want to see Khabib Nurmagomedov, come on bro, who are we kidding? "He didn't want to see him then either. That's what it's about; it's about fooling people. This guy's whole life is about fooling people. It's just people buy it. "Everything he does is about fooling people."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYG4rMp_G2w Malignaggi also said that there was a big difference between McGregor's reality and the character we see in the public and added that he was afforded opportunities during his development that other fighters did not have. "Even his reality compared to his made up life, there's a big difference. Even the things I heard about in his documentary, you would have thought he was poor in the street. "Relax, you weren't in the street. You don't come from where some of these other guys come from but own it. "Be happy your family gave you a good upbringing and that you were able to sit on your ass and not work so you could be able to go practice and learn MMA and become a great fighter. "Great, good for you, but not all of us have that option. Own it. Why do you have to pretend like you come from another world?" McGregor and Malignaggi trained together during the former UFC champion's training camp for his professional boxing debut with Floyd Mayweather Jr. last year. Malignaggi left the camp during preparations after the UFC released a video showing McGregor dropping the former welterweight world champion to the canvas. Malignaggi protests that he hit the mat after McGregor held his head and threw him off balance.