Paulie has given his thoughts on facing Conor under MMA rules…
Last week news broke that Conor McGregor was interested in fighting Paulie Malignaggi. Unfortunately for Paulie, Conor only seems interested in fighting him in the octagon.
Conor’s longtime coach, John Kavanagh, said he didn’t think a fight under MMA rules would interest the former boxing champion. Paulie, however, recently issued his own thoughts on the matter.
Paulie Malignaggi Tweets A Lot
A stroll through Paulie Malignaggi’s Twitter timeline is a little cringeworthy. It is definitely worth a few laughs though. He seems to log on every once in awhile and go on long posting sprees which can be pretty entertaining.
To put it in perspective, every single one of the below Tweets was posted while I was writing this article.
My point exactly Buddy, I'm explaining physics 2 a retard so how am I expecting u to get it? You'll be alright, go troll in ur own world https://t.co/Rz6uISNbFq
— Paul Malignaggi (@PaulMalignaggi) October 3, 2017
Whatever he wants, I'm telling u the guy sucks. Literally the weight wouldn't matter nor would the weight of the gloves #NoBalls https://t.co/F1IOQQLLrs
— Paul Malignaggi (@PaulMalignaggi) October 3, 2017
Nah dipshit theres singular hurtful bodyshots in MMA while in boxing a good body puncher can give a consistent destructive body attack. https://t.co/88pY2E00uO
— Paul Malignaggi (@PaulMalignaggi) October 3, 2017
Paulie seems to really want to get this #NoBalls thing trending…
Will Paulie Malignaggi vs. Conor Ever Happen?
If Paulie is willing to fight MMA then yes but otherwise probably not. Dana White said conclusively after Mayweather defeated McGregor this summer that Conor would not be returning to the sport. While Conor hasn’t shot down the idea of returning to the boxing ring, he seems to have his sights on defending the UFC lightweight title next.
For Conor to face Paulie or anyone in a boxing ring it would most likely have to be his last fight in either sport. It would also have to be the most profitable fight available to him at the time. Another fight in boxing would probably expose Conor’s lack of experience in the sport. It could also damage his drawing power in the UFC if he’s defeated again by a more experienced fighter.
Paulie’s Response to Suggestion of Fighting MMA
During one of his frequent bursts of excessive Twitter posting, someone sent Paulie an article on Conor wanting to face him under MMA rules. Paulie’s response is a little hard to follow so just do the best you can with it.
.@TheNotoriousMMA says @PaulMalignaggi in MMA an option, names Mayweather rematch or Diaz trilogy on shortlist https://t.co/gkgTrR5Zfl pic.twitter.com/FSk3B3e1Nw
— 𝙒𝙊𝙍𝙇𝘿 𝘽𝙊𝙓𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝙉𝙀𝙒𝙎 (@WorldBoxingNews) October 2, 2017
When presented with the article, Paulie had this to say:
Gotta back up all that big talk you had IN THE RING now, men back up their words while pussies are all talk. Time to back it up now #NoBalls https://t.co/Tue7qS5XVu
— Paul Malignaggi (@PaulMalignaggi) October 2, 2017
This could use some dissecting. Paulie capitalized “IN THE RING” as if to say “in a boxing ring” because he’s evidently never seen MMA in a ring before. So he’s saying Conor has to face him under boxing rules but because he’s Paulie Malignaggi it came out all weird.
It only makes sense for this rivalry to be settled in a boxing ring. Their beef did start inside a boxing ring, after all. Fans want to know what actually happened during that sparring session… or kind of at least anyway.
All the same, when a rivalry is based on differing accounts of what happened during a boxing sparring session you sort have to settle it with a boxing match.
Unfortunately for fans who want to see this fight, Paulie’s insistence on it being a boxing bout probably means it’ll never happen. Paulie vs Conor wouldn’t bring in the big payday that Conor vs Floyd would and it’s too big a risk to Conor’s future drawing power. Plus the UFC will never let him out of their octagon again.
