By Allan Fox: Conor McGregor is studying his options for his next fight in the UFC, and 2 of those names are Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Paulie Malignaggi. McGregor, 29, says he’d like to fight a rematch against Mayweather if possible. McGregor would like to fight the 2-division former world champion Malignaggi (36-8, 7 KOs) in MMA fight.
There’s bad blood between Malignaggi and McGregor over the short 2-sparing sessions that took place between the fighters. McGregor leaked photos of the sparring session in social media. There was also video that was leaked of the sparring, showing Malignaggi getting the worst of it. Not long after the photos were leaked, Malignaggi left McGregor’s camp and started opening up on him with both barrels in trash talking him on his social media site.
Malignaggi would like nothing better than to get a chance to fight McGregor and prove that he’s a better fighter than him. If the two battle in the octagon, it would have to be with both guys standing up. Malignaggi wouldn’t stand a chance with McGregor fighting 100 percent MMA against him. It would be an interesting fight if McGregor pits his stand up skills against Malignaggi’s. We could have an even fight possibly. Malignaggi would try and wear McGregor down like Mayweather did by staying in there and forcing him to expend energy throwing punches.
McGregor lost to Mayweather last month by a 10th round knockout on August 26th at the T-Mobile Arena. McGregor blames the defeat on him running out of gas after the first 4 rounds of the fight. He’d like to get Mayweather back in the ring or in the octagon so he can fight him and try and avenge his loss.
“Of course the Nate Diaz trilogy fight is there,” said McGregor to mmafighting.com. ”Maybe one of these boxing guys…maybe Malignaggi would come over and do an MMA bout…or Floyd, maybe I could entice Floyd back. We could either do a rematch in boxing, or like he said originally, we’ll do an MMA fight next. They are the options that are on the table for me right now.”
Mayweather is the type that usually sits for a long while in between fights, spending his money. I don’t think Mayweather is going to be back in 2017. I wouldn’t be surprised if Mayweather returns to the ring in 2018, so there’s a chance for McGregor then. But as far as 2017, Malignaggi is the best option for McGregor if he wants to fight a boxer in the UFC or under the rules of boxing.
McGregor can make more money fighting one of the guys from the UFC instead of Malignaggi. McGregor could make good money fighting Nate Diaz, Tony Ferguson, Kevin Lee, Khabib Nurmagomedov or Justin Gaethje. Malignaggi would be easy money for McGregor to scoop up. If the idea for McGregor is to get the easiest payday possible, then facing would be an excellent fight to get a payday without risk in the octagon. I don’t think it would be a good career for McGregor to fight Malignaggi, because his MMA skills are going to get rusty with him not competing against quality fighters. Malignaggi wouldn’t be any competition.
The fact that McGregor is considering a fight against Malignaggi in the UFC, it suggests that he might not be interested in competing against the bet any longer. It’s hard to take McGregor serious as an MMA fighter with him staying out of competition for so long. It’s now been 11 months since McGregor’s last match in the UFC in his 2nd round TKO win over Eddie Alvarez on November 12, 2016 at UFC 205. If McGregor faces Malignaggi next, then his inactivity could strength out to a year and a half. You can’t consider Malignaggi as a true fight in the UFC. It would be more like an exhibition match.
The 36-year-old Malignaggi’s last fight in boxing was against Sam Eggington on March 4 in losing by an 8th round TKO at the O2 Arena in London, England. Malignaggi retired from boxing 2 days after the fight. Eggington is not considered one of the more talented welterweights in the sport.
Malignaggi’s punching power and size wouldn’t be enough for him to give McGregor any troubles in the octagon. Under the rules of MMA, Malignaggi would be quickly wiped out by McGregor if he decided to use the MMA rules without giving Malignaggi some kind of handicap by not kicking, taking him to the mat and no using a submission hold of some type.
Malignaggi could make really good money fighting McGregor in the UFC. You can argue that it might wind up giving Malignaggi a career high payday if he could get McGregor in the octagon. I’m pretty sure that Malignaggi wouldn’t turn the fight down because of the huge amount of fans that would be willing to purchase the contest. It would be dream come true for Malignaggi to get a fight against McGregor at this point in his career.
Malignaggi might be able to do some damage with the 40z gloves they use in UFC competition. If Malignaggi could stay in the fight long enough to connect with some of his quick jabs, he might stun McGregor and then knock him out. It’s not something I could see happening, but Malignaggi would have a chance because of his boxing background. You can bet that Malignaggi wouldn’t fight at the slow pace that Mayweather was fighting against McGregor.
McGregor’s boss in the UFC, Dana White, might have something to say about the idea of him fighting Malignaggi. I would expect White to try and talk some sense into McGregor’s head to let him know that there would be less interest in him fighting Malignaggi than there would be if he fought a third fight against Nate Diaz. If McGregor wants to fight a boxer, he should try and arrange a deal with Golden Boy Promotions for him to fight Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.
Right now, Canelo is the No.1 fighter in boxing in North America. A fight between him and McGregor would sell in boxing and in MMA. McGregor could also fight Gennady Golovkin, but a fight against him wouldn’t do as well obviously. It would be risky for McGregor, as Golovkin hits harder than Canelo, and he can take a good punch.
The chances of McGregor beating Golovkin by knockout in the standing position are zero. It would be a massacre for Golovkin if McGregor tried to stand and fight him like he does typically with his opponents. McGregor would have to use his MMA skills to beat Golovkin. Even then, he might not get close enough to grab Golovkin before he gets stunned by one of his shots and knocked out straightaway.
If McGregor wants a big payday, he needs to approach Mayweather directly by meeting with him in person to try and talk him into a rematch. It’s not going to work for McGregor to call Mayweather up, I’m afraid.
McGregor needs to attend one of Mayweather’s events, and discuss the idea of them fighting another boxing match or meeting in the octagon. Mayweather might be interested in facing McGregor again if he can scoop up at least $100 million. Mayweather is never going to make money like that in business overnight. He needs to take the money while he still has a chance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A38HF9OyLBw