Paulie Malignaggi has continued his long-running feud with Conor McGregor and has slammed him regarding his UFC comeback in January.
McGregor’s comeback at UFC 246 saw the Irish talisman defeat veteran Donald Cerrone convincingly inside 40 seconds of the very first round.
Despite this, Malignaggi recently told iFL TV: “They had to find him a half-dead guy, the poor guy was already one foot out of the MMA world.”
Cerrone, 36 (10 KO) and 14 losses went into the fight having lost his last two to Justin Gaethje at UFC Fight Night and Tony Ferguson at UFC 238, but was still thought as a worthy opponent for a returning McGregor.
Malignaggi described Cerrone as a ‘half-dead guy’ as well as describing him as ‘on the way out’ as it was clear that the American was done being a big-time player in UFC.
Malignaggi, the Brooklyn-born boxer, said later in his interview with iFL TV: “What is it with this guy? Anything he does, for example the shoulder thing he did in the fight all of his fans were like ‘oh my god, that was amazing’. What do you mean?
“Miguel Cotto was doing that to me in 2006, that shoulder s***, boxers do that all the time.”
Malignaggi then turned his frustration towards McGregor fans and said: “The guy’s a bum, a flat bum.
"People are like ‘oh you’re just embarrassed that he knocked you down’. He didn’t knock s*** down, look at the video he didn’t embarrass me, you should be embarrassed for thinking anything happened besides his ass getting kicked.
“He promised you the video, he didn’t promise me the video. I saw it myself, I beat his ass. If you didn’t get the video you kinda gotta figure you got played.
“But I will say this he was smart in being able to sell the fight. But then he was also smart enough to downplay it after that never not show the full video.
You have a guy who sells a lot. He’s got a fan base of retards. If you’re a Conor McGregor fan at this point knowing what a bum he is you’re borderline retarded probably.
In the past, there has been talks of a potential fight between Malignaggi and McGregor, but with Notorious making his UFC return, you have to feel like that is looking more and more unlikely.
With the ongoing argument between Malignaggi and McGregor, it is a wonder what the Irishman will fire back with, as after all, when has Conor McGregor backed down from a bit of trash talking.
It is currently uncertain as to who McGregor will fight next, however, it is thought that it will be a big name in the UFC, something that Malignaggi cannot understand.
"Nonetheless, you figure you get him a win against a guy he can’t lose to, get him a dead guy, then you market it as the biggest win ever. That’s what they did. And once they market like the biggest thing ever, he sells, now he’s got momentum back, regardless that he beat a guy who sells you beer at the corner store, it doesn’t matter, he got a win.
"Now you start naming him with big names, Khabib, Masvidal and all these other guys, so all of a sudden you get things cooking again, that’s promotion 101. You’re playing the fans for suckers.
"For Conor himself, that guy is in denial, he lives in denial, he thinks it’s all about believing in himself, you’re a bum, you played everybody, Khabib sonned [beat] you. And he talks about Khabib as if he didn’t get sonned, that’s the best part, he talks about Khabib like he didn’t son him in front of the whole world."
If McGregor wins his next fight in similar fashion to what he did against Cerrone, his status may just land him the big, lucrative rematch with Khabib.