Paulie Malignaggi trashes Conor McGregor, believes McGregor failed to get in Nurmagomedov’s head

It didn’t take long for retired boxer Paulie Malignaggi to react to yesterday’s UFC 229 press conference, which featured Conor McGregor, Khabib Nurmagomedov, and a whole lot of trash talk. In his eyes, McGregor failed to get inside Nurmagomedov’s head, which in turn doesn’t bode well for his chances when they fight on October 6.

“That’s a good ass-kicking waiting to happen,” Malignaggi told FightHype of Conor McGregor’s fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov (transcript via MMA Fighting). “[Nurmagomedov’s] gonna get the s**t beat out of him. Like a nice ass-kicking too because unfortunately for him, Khabib is totally emotionless [and] doesn’t give a s**t about your antics. These Eastern Europeans, you can’t get in their heads. You ever notice these guys? They’re like robots, bro. They’re like killer machines. They have no emotion, bro. They have ice in their veins.”

Paulie Malignaggi went on to claim that Conor McGregor has become a bit of a punching bag in recent years.

“He’s been a pretty good punching bag lately,” Malignaggi said. “He got the s**t beat out of him by everybody in sparring in camp – me and Dashon Johnson used to have to go easy on him. I smacked him around and he did everything he could to get me out of the camp. Then he got smacked around by Floyd Mayweather. Then get got smacked around by the authorities when he got arrested because he didn’t want to fight Khabib. Now he’s gonna get smacked around by Khabib.

“Yo, you’re a f**king piñata, bro. Think about it. You ever play with a piñata? You just beat the s**t out of it and you get a nice prize at the end of it. He’s like the piñata of combat sports. Everybody beats the s**t out of him and then gets a prize too! I love it. You’re a f**king piñata. Good luck. That’s a nice ass-whooping you’re gonna catch next month.”

What do you think of Paulie Malignaggi’s assessment of the upcoming Conor McGregor vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov fight?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 9/21/2018.