Paulie Malignaggi: 'Cute and adorable' Conor McGregor sparring videos distract from truth

Former two-division boxing champ Paulie Malignaggi calls the videos of his infamous sparring session against Conor McGregor “cute.” He even gives the producers a thumbs up for making it look like he got schooled by the UFC lightweight champion.

When he first saw the clips, Malignaggi said he had to watch two or three times to remember the moment where he spilled to the canvas. And even then, the editing didn’t give a true impression of what really happened.

“At the end of the day, you couldn’t find 20 seconds of concurrent action out of 36 minutes to put up,” Malignaggi today told MMAjunkie Radio. “You couldn’t find 20 seconds of concurrent action where you could just show an advantage being played out in 20 seconds.”

To Malignaggi, they’re just a distraction from the truth that McGregor (21-3 MMA, 9-1 UFC) is vastly out of his depth heading into a fight with undefeated boxing kingpin Floyd Mayweather (49-0 boxing) on Aug. 26 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Malignaggi, who retired earlier this year and commentates for Showtime, said McGregor is “probably in charge of everything.” But there’s no love lost for the promoters behind it, specifically UFC President Dana White, who released one of the videos on his Instagram.

“I don’t know if I’m more pissed at any one of them,” Malignaggi said. “I think I was more unhappy with the situation. I think Conor is probably in charge of everything. Dana is funny. I already know about Dana – Dana robs the UFC fighters blind.

“I’ve never met an MMA fighter that actually likes Dana or had anything good to say. I’m still looking for one. When Dana comes up in conversation, I’ve yet to hear anybody say, ‘Wow, that guy’s great.’ Or, ‘That guy treats us so good.’ Or, ‘That guy’s a good guy.’ I’m not going to hold my breath, or I might turn blue. So I would expect that.”

After the fists stopped flying that day in McGregor’s camp, Malignaggi said White tried to congratulate him on his work, a change of tone after he said he berated the UFC promoter while sparring McGregor. Still, he was in no mood for niceties.

“I just kind of brushed him off,” Malignaggi said. “I don’t personally like the guy. I’ve never met him before, but I don’t personally have any respect or like the guy. He was trying to talk to me after, like trying to be friendly. I know what you’re about, bro. Don’t give me this bull(expletive). Don’t get mad now, because I punked you and I don’t want to talk to you, and during the sparring session I was yelling at you and telling you how useless your fighter was. Don’t be childish.”

But that seems to be the takeaway from Malignaggi when it comes to the experience of acting as a sparring partner for McGregor. Arriving with the earnest intention of helping an MMA fighter make a massive career leap, he left with a sour taste in his mouth about the character of everyone involved with the project.

Malignaggi said producers can make him look bad in editing, but that doesn’t change the fact that McGregor is not ready for Mayweather.

“It was done very well. It was a nice Hollywood edit. But at the end of the day, the fact that it made such a splash is what I think is cute and adorable,” Malignaggi said. “Because Conor is trying so hard. Like, ‘Guys, listen, I can do this. I’m going to knock Floyd Mayweather out in two rounds.’ You can keep lying all you want. If he was Pinocchio, he’d be able to hit (Floyd) from the other side of the ring with his nose, that’s how much he’s been deceiving the public.

“Well, this isn’t a Disney movie, my friend. This is real life. August 26th, this isn’t a Disney movie. Across the ring, you’ve got Floyd Mayweather, and he knows what he’s doing.”

For more on “The Money Fight: Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor,” check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.

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