Conor McGregor was once the two-division champion in the UFC
McGregor is currently in a crucial phase in his UFC career. The Irishman might see his career take a massive fall, if he loses to Dustin Poirier at UFC 264.
The Irishman had been making sporadic appearances since his ‘champ-champ’ success against Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205, way back in 2016.
He has, in fact, fought just thrice since then. And, he has managed to win just one fight out of the three.
Earlier this year at UFC 257, he was knocked out by Poirier during their rematch. This was the first time he was ever knocked out in his MMA career. Now the pair are set to meet in a trilogy bout at UFC 264.
With the fight inching closer, McGregor has become the talk of the combat sports world once again.
And more recently, former boxer and bare-knuckle fighter Paulie Malignaggi claimed that he would beat McGregor to a pulp in a winner takes all fight.
In an interview with ‘Real Talk with Kelsey and Rachel’ of HEAVY.com, Malignaggi said:
“Conor and I would fight only if it is a winner takes all fight. The loser has to fight for free and that’s how confident I am…I would absolutely smoke the guy.”
Paulie Malignaggi’s rivalry with Conor McGregor began in 2017
One might wonder why Malignaggi has called out ‘The Notorious’ out of nowhere. The pair in fact, share a history of bad blood that began back in August 2017.
Prior to his fight against Floyd Mayweather, McGregor and Malignaggi had their first public altercation following a sparring session for McGregor is alleged to have beaten Malignaggi up (but the vice-versa according to Malignaggi).
Since then, there has always been bitterness between the pair.
Following McGregor’s loss to Poirier, Malignaggi took a dig at ‘The Irishman’ by posting a picture of him lying on the canvas, knocked out cold.
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