Conor McGregor probably didn't expect to fight until Saturday, but he may have his work cut out for him all week. Things started to flare up upon his grand arrival to the T-Mobile arena stage, when Floyd Mayweather and McGregor's camps got involved in some pushing. However, while that is to be expected, McGregor also got into an argument with former sparring partner Paulie Malignaggi, who was visibly upset with McGregor and confronted him while he made his way to the red carpet.
Malignaggi and McGregor had not seen each other since photos arose on social media that implied Malignaggi had been knocked down by McGregor in a sparring session. Malignaggi left McGregor's camp over the "incident," but clearly some bad blood remained. McGregor, however, didn't back down from his side of things. When Malignaggi told McGregor to "bring [his] b----" to the fight, McGregor replied "you got your a--" whooped.
Malignaggi stayed behind and talked to reporters after the confrontation, and he didn't mince words talking about McGregor. A Showtime Sports analyst and retired fighter, Malignaggi gave his side of the photos, saying that McGregor took the fight to the ground and then posted the photos.
"Who jumps in and takes the fight to the ground against a black belt..." Malignaggi explained while describing McGregor's fight with Nate Diaz last year. "You've gotta stand up or you might get punished in three more rounds and you might not land that big shot -- or you may land that big shot if you keep him standing up, but you may get punished. The punishment is the risk you have to take to win. Or you take the easy way out ... you take somebody to the ground and get choked out like that."
Malignaggi may be furious, but McGregor is worried about other matters -- although he might not be as worried as most people would be. McGregor, true to form, said that if Mayweather makes it into the second round of the fight, he'd decide there is he wanted to "put him out of his misery." Whatever ends up happening, McGregor's boorish attitude promises to permeate through throughout the week, along with those that have qualms with the UFC star.