Coach: Conor McGregor vs. Paulie Malignaggi boxing match is ‘absolutely not out of the realm of possibilities’

We’re now more than a week removed from Conor McGregor’s submission loss to UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, and the Irish MMA star’s future is as nebulous as ever. Although he has plenty of interesting options in both MMA and boxing, it’s hard to say which — if any — of those options he might pick for his next contest.

One of the many options for Conor McGregor is a boxing match with Paulie Malignaggi. While Malignaggi was originally supposed to serve as a training partner for McGregor ahead of his massive 2017 boxing match with Floyd Mayweather, the pair’s relationship quickly curdled and ultimately devolved into a fierce and virulent rivalry.

With Conor McGregor and Paulie Malignaggi’s relationship down the drain, many fans have expressed interest in seeing them settle their differences in the ring. Malignaggi would certainly like that opportunity.

Speaking on the Joe Rogan Experience MMA Show shortly after UFC 229, McGregor’s head coach John Kavanagh said that a boxing match with Paulie Malignaggi is a definite possibility for Conor McGregor’s next fight— as is a rematch with Mayweather.

https://youtu.be/ARAT9HQY6e4

“It is absolutely not out of the realm of possibilities,” Kavanagh said (transcript via MMA Fighting). “There are all sorts of crazy rumors going around the management team and the fight team about what might happen next. It could be boxing, it could be him [Malignaggi], it could be Floyd. All sorts of names are being thrown about.”

Kavanagh also discussed the infamous sparring session between Conor McGregor and Paulie Malignaggi, which McGregor is alleged to have dominated despite his inexperience. He says that the sparring footage will soon be released, in full, in a Netflix documentary, which should clear up what actually happened when the pair shared the ring.

“I think there is something being released on Netflix soon based around that fight and it’ll have all the rounds,” Kavanagh said. “We have the 12 rounds. As far as I’m aware, I just did an interview for it recently. I think it’s a three-part documentary that’s going to be on Netflix soon. So people will get to make up their own minds about it.”

“It turned out to be a great contest,” Kavanagh added, discussing McGregor and Malignaggi’s sparring session. “And I’ll say contest because it wasn’t a spar, they were talking the whole time. They were talking the whole time, Paulie was talking to me, he was talking to the cameraman, he was almost better than Conor at it, it was great to watch. Everybody had a great night, and I think they both actually bizarrely enjoyed it. It’s like Conor and Nate [Diaz]. It’s Batman and The Joker, they both need each other. They hate each other, but they love each other.”

Do you think we’ll ever seen Conor McGregor and Paulie Malignaggi settle their differences in the ring?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 10/15/2018.