UFC Lightweight Champion Conor McGregor didn’t recruit retired boxer Paulie Malignaggi just to spar, it appears McGregor actually wanted to fight him in training.
Malignaggi was brought in to help McGregor prepare for his professional boxing debut. Later this month, McGregor is scheduled to fight Floyd “Money” Mayweather.
According to one of McGregor’s training partners, McGregor didn’t just want to spar with Malignaggi, he wanted to actually fight him.
“I was in Paulie’s corner and although he hasn’t fought since March and is retired, he’s getting sharper by the day,” Tiernan Bradley told MMA Fighting.
“You can see he’s still a class operator, and it was an interesting spar to watch, more a full on fight actually. Conor told us all when Paulie came into camp ‘this is not a spar, I want to fight him. I’m ready for a war’.”
McGregor will fight Mayweather on Aug. 26 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
