UFC: Bare Knuckle Fighter Calls Conor McGregor 'Gay,' Reignites Past Beef

A bare knuckle fighter called UFC star Conor McGregor “gay” for not wanting to fight him and repeatedly mentioning his name.

Paulie Malignaggi was a professional boxer turned pro bare knuckle fighter. He was the first mainstream boxing star to ever compete at BKFC (Bare Knuckle Fighting Championships). Malignaggi’s most notable bare knuckle fight came last year against UFC veteran and McGregor’s friend Artem Lobov. The fight ended up with Lobov winning via decision. However, the decision was plagued with controversies after fans and experts claimed that Malignaggi was “robbed.”

Malignaggi developed a war of words with McGregor in 2017 after the two combat sports stars famously sparred in a boxing ring. The said sparring happened at the time when McGregor was preparing for his pro boxing debut against undefeated boxing champ Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Reports claim that prior to the session, Malignaggi had downplayed McGregor’s chances in the bout. But what really fueled McGregor to make a move was the incident where Malignaggi actually slapped Lobov during an intense confrontation. As a response, the Irishman posted clips from the actual spar. McGregor posted a series of one-sided photos and one of which showed Malignaggi hitting the deck.

Malignaggi fired back at McGregor and took his thoughts to social media as well. The American went expletive and warned “The Notorious” that he will put his body “in a coma.”

The two even went face-to-face against each other during a media scrum. Both loud fighters exchanged words and had to be separated by security. McGregor ended the confrontation by telling Malignaggi to “get over” with the sparring session defeat as he walked away. Malignaggi was still yelling until a security officer pulled him back. He had to introduce himself as professional fighter before the security would let go of him.

Since then, the McGregor-Malignaggi feud has been ongoing. The recent blow came from Malignaggi. In a recent interview with Elie Seckbach of EsNews, the former boxer got fired up after hearing McGregor’s name. According to Malignaggi, McGregor is “gay” for repeatedly talking trash about him and not wanting to fight him in a real fight.

“I’m not talking about Conor McGregor, he’s got a gay fetish with me I’m tellin’ you,” Malignaggi exclaimed.

“There’s no other guy, that will keep talking about another man and not fight him,” Malignaggi added.

Just before he ended the interview, Malignaggi sent his message to McGregor. As per the bare knuckle fighter, of the former UFC champ doesn’t want to fight him, he better stop mentioning his name.

“If you don’t wanna fight me, I don’t have a problem with that, but stop talkin (about me),” Malignaggi pointed out.