Paulie Malignaggi is not happy.
The ill-feelings between Conor McGregor and Malignaggi, his former sparring partner, have intensified.
The 36-year-old, former two-time world boxing champion, left the camp last week because sparring photos, which were not complimentary to Malignaggi, were leaked.
Since then, the Malignaggi has been no-holes-barred in his views on McGregor. During an explosive MMA Hour on Monday, he continued to dish the dirt on the Notorious, saying the leaked photos were the final straw.
Not the image he wants to portray https://t.co/XToU1p4f85
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) August 8, 2017
“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. 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 American wasn’t finished yet. Not by a long way. He launched assault after assault on McGregor’s character, and 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.”
Getting ugly https://t.co/LEfodAGknk
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) August 8, 2017
“Then I said, ‘Conor, do me a favour, bro. No more of these crazy pictures’. 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.”
You can watch the full interview here:
