The Grand Arrivals event in Las Vegas, Nevada between Floyd Mayweather Jr and the UFC’s Conor McGregor was always going to steal the show.The sense of excitement has turned up a notch now that we’re in fight week, with the Notorious now claiming he’ll put his American foe to sleep inside one round, while Money has admitted that he owes fans for the Manny Pacquiao fight and is also predicting a knockout.
GRAND ARRIVALS
In the build-up to this, though, it’s another boxer that has been stealing the headlines in the world of combat sports, and often it’s felt like McGregor is preparing to battle Paulie Malignaggi rather than the unbeaten Mayweather.
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It’s been well-documented just what went down in sparring between the UFC lightweight champion and Magic Man, with the latter furious that pictures were posted online and believes he was set up.
As expected, Malignaggi wasted little time in confronting the Irishman at the Grand Arrivals event, and has revealed that he was actually trying to get Audie Attar’s attention – McGregor’s manager – after claiming that he talked out of his contract.
Speaking to MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani, he said: “I wasn’t sure what he [Conor] was saying, I was trying to get Audie’s attention because I was trying to talk to Audie.
CONFRONTATION
“Audie was saying, ‘You talked out of your contract.’ I was saying no, you know I didn’t talk out of my contract. You guys posted pictures, you forced me to defend myself.
"I didn’t talk anything until you guys posted pictures, the pictures are what started all the talking so nobody talked out of the contract, you guys posted pictures first.
“If there was no pictures ever posted I wouldn’t have needed to talk, I don’t need to go find reporters to talk to, I don’t need to talk to the media.
“Oh, I don’t know what Conor was saying, I was trying to talk to Audie, Conor was probably saying you got your ass – I don’t know, typical s**t, you got your ass whooped. Oh, that’s what, then I reminded him, ‘Did you bring your balls this week?’
“Because usually, you forgot them against [Nate] Diaz, you tend to forget them when s**t gets tough, so make sure you brought your balls Saturday, because you’re gonna need them.
“Make sure he doesn’t forget them in Ireland or in the training camp house, you gotta pack your gloves, you gotta pack your shoes, you gotta pack your cup…you gotta pack your balls too because he tends to forget those.”
While many believe the whole fight is a circus act or a farce, not many are giving McGregor a chance against Mayweather, and you can bet Malignaggi will probably be the happiest man inside of the T-Mobile Arena if Mayweather reaches a 50th professional win.
What do you make of Conor McGregor’s confrontation with Paulie Malignaggi? Have YOUR say in the comments section below.
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