
Paulie Malignaggi has written off any prospect of a fight with Conor McGregor, insisting the unreleased footage from their 2017 sparring sessions would vindicate everything he has said about the incident that turned the two men into enemies.
The dispute between Malignaggi and McGregor dates to 2017, when McGregor released footage from their sparring sessions ahead of his boxing match with Floyd Mayweather. The clips showed Malignaggi on the canvas, which McGregor presented as a knockdown.
Malignaggi has consistently maintained it was a push and has spent the years since demanding the release of the full twelve rounds of footage — material that, he argues, tells a fundamentally different story to the highlights McGregor made public. That footage has never been released.
"You've probably got a better chance of seeing pigs fly than ever seeing Conor McGregor fight me. I told you that he would never show that sparring session in full because it didn't go the way he tried to make that look with the little highlight reel. I was right about that and I will be right about this too — he will never fight me,” McGregor said
McGregor's own situation adds context to the exchange. He has not fought since 2021. His return to the UFC is being discussed but is not confirmed. Whether a fight with Malignaggi is even on the radar amid those circumstances is unclear.
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