How Paulie Malignaggi reacted to the world seeing him get knocked down by Conor McGregor really says a lot.
Once Dana White posted those clips on his social media accounts, everyone saw the same thing. They witnessed Paulie Malignaggi getting cracked in the head by Conor McGregor causing him to fall backwards onto the canvas with his hands by his side.
Although the angles made it somewhat ambiguous, the general consensus from the combat sports community was that it was a punch, not a push from ‘The Notorious’ that made the former boxing world champion sit down in the ring.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BXrdz9qAL4M/?hl=en&taken-by=danawhite
Ever since he was drafted into McGregor’s camp, it has been impossible to avoid seeing Malignaggi in the media. He made his experiences sparring with McGregor all about him, even though the star of the show was clearly the man with the ‘in association with’ tagline.
So it’s unsurprising that he has been just as vocal since falling out with Team McGregor over those leaked photos.
He’s also been responding to the knockdown video to an excessive degree on social media. This is just one of the many, many tweets he has sent out regarding the footage.
U don't see his right hand dragging me behind my neck to the right where his lead right foot from southpaw stance is? Notoriously blind bro. https://t.co/HFebzWIK07
— Paul Malignaggi (@PaulMalignaggi) August 12, 2017
This isn’t something that should have caught Malignaggi off guard. He knew what he had signed up for. He saw all the photos that were being shared of McGregor landing flush on sparring partners. ‘The Notorious’ was always going to be promoted in this way, while his training partner’s better moments wouldn’t see the light of day.
He should have been particularly wise to what he was in store for when McGregor publically declared that he was bringing him in to “have a knock” then “answer to what he’s been saying”.
Whatever his reason was for accepting the offer, he really should have copped that he wasn’t going to be the hero of the narrative written by Team McGregor. Even if he held his own against McGregor, or actually beat him around the ring, that story wasn’t going to be the one the public would be sold.
This was always going to happen https://t.co/vdqFEKipsn
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) August 13, 2017
How much Malignaggi has thrust himself into the spotlight has left many suspecting he has an ulterior motive. A good few people believe that he is pushing for his own red panty night against the UFC superstar.
Although he’s retired from professional pugilism, the temptation of a huge payday to take on McGregor would be enough to get just about any former fighter back into the ring.
Sure enough, a recent tweet has confirmed that Malignaggi would be more than willing to step inside the ring to face McGregor, but this time in an official capacity.
I don't need the money, we could do winner takes the whole pot. Based on his footage he should be real confident with a deal like that lol. https://t.co/WGE6Dm81kf
— Paul Malignaggi (@PaulMalignaggi) August 13, 2017
For all the marbles, Paulie? Keep dreaming!
He has been around the block long enough to understand how boxing purses work. That type of fight will never happen.
