UFC President Dana White took to Twitter in an effort to confirm Conor McGregor's claims that he knocked down Paulie Malignaggi in sparring.
For all the people who think @TheNotoriousMMA can't box. This is gonna be a FIGHT! Conor vs Paulie Malignaggi former IBF/WBA World Champion. pic.twitter.com/CcTkFq0fhr
— Dana White (@danawhite) August 12, 2017
Here is the video everyone wanted to see of Conor vs Paulie Malignaggi former IBF and WBA World Champion @TheNotoriousMMA pic.twitter.com/GfFP3SKsye
— Dana White (@danawhite) August 12, 2017
After a week of back and forth regarding what took place during the well-covered sparring session, the video appears to show former two-time world champion Malignaggi being knocked down during sparring. An argument can be made that from whichever angle you watch the video, McGregor's left hand appears to be leaning on Malignaggi's neck, pushing the off-balance Malignaggi to the canvas with his right hand.
A heated Malignaggi took to Twitter claiming that referee Joe Cortez even said it wasn't a knockdown.
Cause they had to cut out right away as to not hear Cortez shout "NO KNOCKDOWN" it was never a debate as to what it was when it happened https://t.co/WAmYtrK3yX
— Paul Malignaggi (@PaulMalignaggi) August 12, 2017
The truth of the matter is, it doesn't really matter. This is sparring. This is not a fight. Malignaggi's job in this role is to give McGregor good work. Meaning, he's there to emulate what McGregor might see in the fight. In contrast, Mayweather has been sparring with Zab Judah and Errol Spence Jr. I think the last thing anyone trying to sell this fight wants to do is show that footage.
I spoke this morning with Malignaggi, who said the following when asked how he felt about the video, "Basically the video speaks for itself, but it has to be watched. Someone sent me a slower motion replay that I posted to Twitter where it shows not a single punch land in the entire sequence. He overshot the left hand, and by virtue of that is why his left winds up pushing down on my neck."
He continued: "As he's pushing down my neck, he tries to shoot a right hook, which again I have a slow motion replay posted to Twitter, which blatantly misses, and this despite him pushing my head down to it with the other hand. The force of the push down causes me to fall, but no punches land. Now people will spin this how they like because they want to believe a reality that they wish to be true, but all this is more proof that their entire foundation is based on a house of cards."
It just seems that McGregor's camp is trying too hard to sell the fact that McGregor is going to be competitive and possibly win this fight. There has been so much talk and so much hype, along with the speculation that ticket sales have been weak, that if they're trying to drive this point home by a sparring session with a 36-year-old, two-time former world champion in non-fighting shape, then they might want to think of a different method because the mainstream public doesn't seem to be buying into it anymore based on the thousands of seats still available for the mega-fight.
Regardless of what you take away from 10 seconds of sparring, Mayweather is a big betting favorite: between -500 and -700 in some sportsbooks, according to the experts at sportsbookreview.com. On Aug. 26, when Conor McGregor steps in the ring with Floyd Mayweather at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, the arena will be full one way or another, and the Pay-Per-View will challenge records.
Who knows, maybe we get Malignaggi vs. McGregor next?
