John Kavanagh, the head coach of UFC Lightweight Champion Conor McGregor, is happy former boxing champion Paulie Malignaggi briefly joined their team.
After only two sparring sessions, Malignaggi left McGregor’s training camp because he was not happy with the way he was treated. Malignaggi left the camp after photos were released of McGregor knocking him to the ground.
On Friday, Kavanagh spoke to MMA Fighting about the situation with Malignaggi at McGregor’s media day in Las Vegas.
“I’m very confident of Conor’s skills, but I’d have to be, you know? The engineer in me would have to be honest and say I hadn’t seen him spar a high-level boxer until I saw him spar Paulie, and it was nice to be confirmed what I was very sure of;
his technique and skills would cross over to this area. That only confirmed it for me, so I’m very happy with Paulie, very glad he was part of the team.
“To be honest, two good spars out of him was kind of what I was expecting anyway. The fact that it went sour and he’s clearly unhappy, what comment can I make to that? That’s up to him.”
McGregor is currently training to fight boxing legend Floyd “Money” Mayweather. McGregor’s first professional boxing match will take place Aug. 26 in Las Vegas.
