VIDEO | Paulie Malignaggi claims talks are occurring for possible Conor McGregor fight

One of the biggest stories to emerge from the buildup of Conor McGregor‘s recent boxing match with Floyd Mayweather Jr. was his beef with Paulie Malignaggi. Malignaggi was originally brought into McGregor’s camp as a training partner, but after feeling as though he’d been unfairly represented by the Irishman and his team, he departed.

Since then, Malignaggi has talked ceaseless trash about McGregor, and has even been campaigning for a fight with him. Now, he claims that the talks for this possible showdown with McGregor have begun, as his manager Al Haymon has reportedly reached out to UFC President Dana White.

“I know Al Haymon’s talking to Dana White,” Malignaggi said in an interview with FightHype.com. “I  know they’re speaking, so if they want the fight they’ll make it.”

“Al Haymon makes anything he wants to happen, happen. Once I spoke to Al and Team Haymon, and they told me they wanted to make this fight, I knew that the only was this fight doesn’t happen is if [Conor] had absolutely no balls.”

“This fight will pay him more, this fight will get him more exposure, this fight is a bigger fight than anybody else he has. There’s no more Mayweather fight. This fight is the biggest fight there is. So once they told me that, I knew the only way this doesn’t happen is if this guy has absolutely no balls. Which wouldn’t surprise me because he has no balls. But the way they’re going to present it to him, it’s going to be presented in a way where he really shouldn’t turn it down.” 

Do you think a fight between Paulie Malignaggi and Conor McGregor will happen? Join the conversation in the comments section!

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 10/15/2017.