Conor McGregor goes a long way back with a veteran retired boxer, but not as friends! The story started in 2017 when McGregor took part in the most high-profile crossover boxing match against Floyd Mayweather, where the former was supposedly paid $100 million. McGregor took help from a former two-division world champion boxer. However, they were not good sparring partners because McGregor decided to insult his opponent, who was trying to help him.

He released clips of the sparring session, which showed a highly disputed KO that McGregor scored on his opponent. This was the start of a long feud between the two, which seems to have reemerged again in 2024! Let’s take a look.

Old rival lashes out at Conor McGregor

McGregor had asked for Paulie Malignaggi’s help for the fight with Floyd Mayweather. The boxer stormed off in a rage after being knocked out by ‘The Notorious’ and decided to end the sparring session. McGregor claims to have KO-ed Malignaggi many times, but the latter denied these claims. Meanwhile, McGregor eventually lost the bout with Mayweather via TKO.

Malignaggi insisted that he was shoved to the ground, and the Irishman was defeated by him. The same pictures were re-uploaded by Sparrwars and the retired boxer decided to set things straight. He said, “Guy was one of the worst boxers I ever stepped in a ring with. 7 years and you’re still living off a 5-second highlight.”

He further stated that McGregor, who he referred to as ‘guy’ wore an American football helmet and padded chin strap with a sponge to protect his face. The 43-year-old wrote, “Which is why he got so worked up that he had to find a few seconds of success out of 22 rounds and release it while hiding the rest.”

Ever since this feud, both have taken every chance they can to lambast each other and even call a boxing match against each other. In a previous interview with Action Network, Malignaggi stated that he would crush McGregor in a boxing match and that he was a better trash talker than Mystic Mac.

He claimed, “I would have trashed him in the press conferences and the fight.” He even talked about his opponent’s mental fortitude and compared him to Anthony Joshua. Let’s get to know more about the feud.

The history of beef between Malignaggi and McGregor

Ever since the footage was uploaded, Malignaggi has become one of the greatest critics of McGregor. He never leaves a chance to blast the former dual-weight champ in UFC. In an interview with Action Network last year, Malignaggi said that he holds more capability than McGregor both inside and outside the ring.

He added, “It would have ended all of the hysteria around him because I would have destroyed him in the trash-talking and the ring. I would have ruined the whole aura around him. He was smart not to pull the trigger on a fight with me.”

McGregor also reignited the feud ahead of UFC 303 and claimed that the Italian American boxer was “battered out of the gym” during their 2017 sparring session. The fighter who had to drop out again from UFC 303 for an injured toe said that the former WBA and IBF gold holder was defeated by him. Both of them have continuously fired shots at each other through social media and the feud does not seem to die down.

Do you think they will ever fight with each other? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.