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What's the story?
Former two-time World Champion Paulie Malignaggi has revealed that talks between his representatives and the UFC have begun for a potential match-up between himself and MMA mega-star Conor McGregor.
During an interview with FightHype.Com, Malignaggi went on record to say:
"I know Al Haymon's talking to Dana White. If they want the fight, they'll make it."
In case you didn't know...
Although Conor McGregor came to prominence for his dominant performances in the UFC, he recently turned his hand to boxing, where he was stopped in the 10th round by Floyd Mayweather.
Malignaggi was recruited as a sparring partner for Conor McGregor during the build-up to the Mayweather Vs McGregor Money-Fight. However, the partnership was short-lived as Malignaggi controversially walked away from the training camp after just two sessions in the ring.
The heart of the matter
The bad blood between the two fighters started when Team McGregor began posting photographs on Instagram that appeared to show the Irishman's dominance during their sparring sessions.
Malignaggi is adamant that the material released by McGregor and his associates is highly misleading but his calls for unedited footage of the sparring sessions to be released have gone unanswered.
What's next?
Last week, the UFC crowned Tony Ferguson as the Interim Lightweight Champion, and a mandatory title defence against the Californian looked inevitable for Conor McGregor.
Although Dana White and the UFC are understandably pushing to have their prized asset return to The Octagon as soon as possible after his extended leave of absence, Malignaggi believes there is more money to be made in the boxing ring at this time...
"This fight will pay him more, this fight will get him more exposure - this fight is a bigger fight than anything else he has. There's no more Mayweather fight, this is the biggest fight there is."
Author's take
Despite the commercial success of Mayweather Vs McGregor, it is hard to deny that many of McGregor's supporters would be excited to see him return the UFC in the coming months.
However, there is no doubting that there are enormous amounts of money to be made by all parties should McGregor return to the boxing ring, and as we have seen time and time again, that is often the defining factor in the fight game.
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