UFC President Dana White was side by side with UFC Lightweight Champion Conor McGregor when he fought Floyd Mayweather this past August.
As far as the UFC President is concerned, nobody wants to see the UFC Lightweight Champion face Paulie Malignaggi in the boxing ring.
“Paulie Malignaggi never says (expletive) that isn’t true,” Dana White said on Real Quick With Mike Zwick. “Do you think people really want to see Conor vs. Paulie Malignaggi? People want to see Conor fight in MMA. That’s what they want to see. The Mayweather fight was a one-off, (expletive) crazy deal. This is where he belongs, this is the sport he’s in, this is the sport he excels in and this is where he’s a world champion. This is where he needs to be.”
The rivalry between McGregor and Malignaggi began after McGregor’s camp posted photos of McGregor allegedly dropping Malignaggi during their sparring sessions.
White doesn’t understand why Malignaggi would want to fight McGregor since the Irishman hurt him badly during their sparring sessions.
“Why did Paulie Malignaggi get up and walk out of camp after two sparring sessions? Because it was the right (expletive) thing to do,” White said. “Because he was going to get hurt, because he was going to take damage that was going to affect him for the rest of his life that he didn’t need to (expletive) take. It’s not like they were paying him big money or he had a (expletive) fight coming up himself. Paulie Malignaggi got up and left camp, and he should have (expletive) got up and left camp because Conor was going to (expletive) hurt him badly. It’s no disrespect to the guy. It’s a fact. I was there. I watched the whole (expletive) sparring session. That guy needed to go home and he needed to leave Las Vegas.”
McGregor is expected to make his UFC return next year, with his coach saying UFC Interim Champion Tony Ferguson being the likely opponent.
