Conor McGregor Is 'McQuitter', Not Like Floyd Mayweather, Malignaggi Says

Paulie Malignaggi, a former two-weight boxing champion, launched a tirade aimed at Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) star Conor McGregor by accusing him of becoming desperate as his time at the top in mixed martial arts enters its latter stages.

The Irishman last competed in the octagon in 2018 when he lost via submission in the fourth round to long-time rival Khabib Nurmagomedov when they fought for the UFC lightweight title. It was McGregor’s first fight in almost two years, with his last bout before that coming when he became the first two-weight title holder in franchise history. He was later stripped off both titles due to inactivity.

During his time away from the octagon, ‘The Notorious’ - as McGregor is popularly known - called out boxing legend Floyd Mayweather for a fight and after much negotiation and trash talking, the two agreed to face each other in a boxing match which guaranteed both the fighters big paydays of $30 million and $100 million respectively.

The former five-weight world title holder came out of retirement for the fight against McGregor and went on to improve his record to 50-0 with a TKO win in the 10th round. Mayweather again came out of retirement in 2018 for an exhibition match with Japanese kickboxing sensation Tenshin Nasukawa, which he also won.

McGregor, who has not announced a potential return to the octagon in 2019, has now demanded a mixed martial arts (MMA) exhibition with Nasukawa, stating: “I want to go to Tokyo to face Tenshin Nasukawa in a Mixed Martial Arts exhibition bout,” his Twitter post read. “Before this summer. Please arrange this, this instant. Yours sincerely, the champ champ.”

And Malignaggi, who holds a grudge against McGregor after the latter's camp released a video of the Irishman knocking out the boxer during a training bout prior to his fight with Mayweather, has slammed The Notorious for coping the legendary boxer.

The Brooklyn-born former WBA welterweight title holder told McGregor not to put himself on par with Mayweather. Malignaggi pointed to the boxer’s unbeaten record and then referred to the Irishman as “Conor McQuitter”, referring to his recent losses.

“McGregor’s trying all that he can to keep himself relevant as best he can – even going as far as calling out the Japanese featherweight Nasukawa. That guy just did an exhibition with Floyd Mayweather – I don’t think he was intending to fight guys as big as Floyd and Conor, that physically big – he’s a very small guy. It was a one-off situation. Conor’s not the same – he’s not Floyd Mayweather,” Malignaggi said, as quoted on Bloody Elbow.

“Floyd Mayweather doesn’t lose – Conor loses every year. So I think Conor twisted up the roles a little bit. He got a bit confused – he forget he was Conor ‘McQuitter’ and thought he was Floyd Mayweather for a second where he could just walk into the free money. Guys like Floyd earn that kind of thing.”

“In truth, he’s trying to look for free money because he knows that his time at the top is coming to an end,” the former Welterweight title holder added.

Malignaggi also invited McGregor to a winner-take-all boxing match and was certain he would beat the Irishman. He felt it was a good time for both of them to settle their score.

“There’s no other fight he can make that he makes more money than he does fighting me – the problem is, he gets beaten by me,” Malignaggi said. “[Eddie] Hearn can easily put the fight together, [Al] Haymon can easily put the fight together, Showtime have said they’d be interested in it — I don’t think it’s a no-brainer at this point. I don’t think it’d any secret at this point — there’s money in the fight.”