Conor McGregor’s Former Sparring Partner Willing to Train Fighter for Cash

Chris van Heerden, the former sparring partner of Conor McGregor, said he would be willing to return and spar with the UFC star ahead of his bout against Floyd Mayweather this month—for a price. 
Van Heerden spoke with TMZ Sports on Friday a…

Chris van Heerden, the former sparring partner of Conor McGregor, said he would be willing to return and spar with the UFC star ahead of his bout against Floyd Mayweather this month—for a price. 

Van Heerden spoke with TMZ Sports on Friday and said he sympathized with former McGregor sparring partner Paulie Malignaggi but would return for a sparring match if paid.

“If he pays me, I’ll go beat him up. The first time I helped him out of a good heart…I didn’t ask him for anything. [I sparred] for free. And then they done me bad. If they want me back, they better pay me.”

Van Heerden split with McGregor’s camp last year after he leaked full video of a sparring session that had previously been made to look McGregor look favorable. 

Malignaggi, who had been sparring with McGregor ahead of his prizefight with Mayweather, quit Thursday amid a similar disagreement with the fighter’s camp. A still depicting McGregor knocking down Malignaggi leaked earlier this week, which incensed the now-retired boxer.

“I wanted to be part of this event, but I didn’t want to become the story, and that’s what this has turned into,” Malignaggi told ESPN’s Brett Okamoto. “I won’t release any information about his game plan or what he’s working on; I wouldn’t do that. But this has become a fiasco. It’s a circus.

“And I do want that sparring video released. The UFC’s PI definitely has that video. I understand it can’t come out now, but Conor, if you have any balls, release what really happened.”

Malignaggi the supposed knockdown was actually a pushdown but said he and McGregor have a “mutual respect” inside the ring.

“There was a pushdown yesterday,” Malignaggi said of the sparring session. “Conor on the inside, he can get a little rough. He shoved me down, you know, but no knockdowns. Obviously, 12 rounds, you’re gonna see there’s a mark on my face. Very, very hard work for both of us. I was starting to get in a groove in the middle rounds, starting to land some good shots. Conor really came on strong in the end. It was back and forth.”

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Paulie Malignaggi Goes Off On Haters Following McGregor Mess

The heat between UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor and former two-weight boxing champ Paulie Malignaggi continues to build up. Malignaggi was brought in to serve as a sparring partner for the 155-pound mixed martial arts (MMA) champ, as he prepares for his professional boxing debut against, arguably, the greatest of all time in undefeated 49-0 […]

The post Paulie Malignaggi Goes Off On Haters Following McGregor Mess appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

The heat between UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor and former two-weight boxing champ Paulie Malignaggi continues to build up.

Malignaggi was brought in to serve as a sparring partner for the 155-pound mixed martial arts (MMA) champ, as he prepares for his professional boxing debut against, arguably, the greatest of all time in undefeated 49-0 Floyd Mayweather Jr. Malignaggi has been sparring with “The Notorious One” for weeks, but announced yesterday (Thurs. August 3, 2017) that he was leaving the Irishman’s camp following some leaked photos from their sparring sessions that made it look like McGregor was getting the best of him.

One such photo showed Malignaggi on his back on the canvas, with a smiling McGregor looking down on him. Malignaggi claimed it was a shove rather than a knockdown, and the referee’s reaction in the photo supports this claim. Malignaggi stated that the only photographer allowed in the room during the session was McGregor’s personal photographer. Due to this, Malignaggi is confident that McGregor is responsible for the pictures being leaked.

This upset the former boxing champ, who took to Twitter and went off on McGregor, saying he ‘beat his ass’ during the sparring sessions and the leaked photos painted a picture that isn’t true. He then suggested that the UFC Performance Institute, which has 24-hour cameras, release the full unedited version of their sparring sessions.

Malignaggi took to Twitter today (Fri. August 4, 2017) to respond to some haters going off on him for leaving the McGregor camp, claiming once again that he ‘beat the breaks off’ McGregor when the sparred:

Mayweather and McGregor are set to go 12 rounds at 154 pounds live on Showtime pay-per-view (PPV) from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada later this month (August 26, 2017).

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Former Boxing Champ Leaves Conor’s McGregor’s Training Camp Amidst Massive Drama

Days after former boxing champ Paulie Malignaggi and Conor McGregor met in a highly-publicized sparring session at the UFC Performance Institute in as Vegas, Nevada, Malignaggi has apparently left the McGregor camp after a late night rant against his now-former training partner. After the session reportedly got a bit ‘out of control’ according to Joe […]

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Days after former boxing champ Paulie Malignaggi and Conor McGregor met in a highly-publicized sparring session at the UFC Performance Institute in as Vegas, Nevada, Malignaggi has apparently left the McGregor camp after a late night rant against his now-former training partner.

After the session reportedly got a bit ‘out of control’ according to Joe Cortez, the referee brought in to oversee the action, Malignaggi posted on Twitter that some of the pictures of the session posted on social media were misrepresented, especially one that made him look like he had been dropped to the ground when he was allegedly pushed.

Here is the photo in question:

The Sun

Malignaggi offered his view that he fell down from a push, prodding McGregor and his camp to release the full video of their sparring session:

The respected boxer then said he came to McGregor’s camp to help him train to fight Floyd Mayweather, not to be exploited to make him look good:

Malignaggi then tried to set the record completely straight, claiming that he had ‘beat McGregor’s ass’ and wants the full video of the session posted because the time to not be petty is clearly over:

And as a code between fighters, professionals usually don’t do interviews about sparring sessions in order to keep what they saw in the gym, but when McGregor began leaking photos that were from his official photographer – the only photographer allowed in the room – he was forced to defend himself:

Malignaggi got a bit testy with a ‘fan’ who blasted him for doing the interview, noting that it wasn’t him who kicked off the media blitz:

Malignaggi continued blasting McGregor supporters, telling another to stop ‘inventing his own reality’:

Finally, Malignaggi posted a lengthy Instagram response revealing he was officially leaving McGregor’s training camp and would divulge the reasons why later:

So McGregor’s highest profile sparring partner has left his camp 22 days away from the circus-like event in Las Vegas, mainly be cause he didn’t like how he was portrayed in photographs that he believes were engineered to only show McGregor in a favorable light.

With no professional boxing matches on his record, it could be assumed that McGregor needed to puff himself up by only allowing his official photographer in the room and posting only pictures that were favorable to him.

Perhaps Malignaggi got tagged and had his pride hurt a bit too, but as the former boxing champion noted, we’ll never know until they release the full video of the sparring session, and that doesn’t seem like a likely occurrence at this time.

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Paulie Malignaggi Leaves McGregor’s Camp, Upset Over Sparring Photos

Paulie Malignaggi has left Conor McGregor’s training camp and he is not happy. The “Magic Man” was brought on board to help “Notorious” prepare for his Aug. 26 “super fight” against Floyd Mayweather. The two are said to have had some intense sparring sessions with Hall of Fame referee Joe Cortez in place to ensure […]

Paulie Malignaggi has left Conor McGregor’s training camp and he is not happy. The “Magic Man” was brought on board to help “Notorious” prepare for his Aug. 26 “super fight” against Floyd Mayweather. The two are said to have had some intense sparring sessions with Hall of Fame referee Joe Cortez in place to ensure […]

Paulie Malignaggi Says He Went ‘Back And Forth’ With Conor McGregor In Sparring

We are just days away from the biggest combat sporting event in history, as UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor is set to make his professional boxing debut against, arguably, the greatest of all time in undefeated 49-0 legend Floyd Mayweather Jr. The pair are expected to go 12 rounds on August 26th from the T-Mobile […]

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We are just days away from the biggest combat sporting event in history, as UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor is set to make his professional boxing debut against, arguably, the greatest of all time in undefeated 49-0 legend Floyd Mayweather Jr.

The pair are expected to go 12 rounds on August 26th from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada at 154 pounds. Despite being given little to no chance at earning the victory that so many before him failed to get get, “The Notorious One” is taking preparations for the bout extremely serious. Former two weight boxing champ Paulie Malignaggi was brought in as a sparring partner for McGregor, and a photo of that sparring session was posted by the Irishman in which he was taunting the former champ.

Malignaggi recently did an interview with ESPN to discuss his rounds inside the ring with the 155-pound UFC champ, claiming to have seen improvement throughout their various sessions (quotes via ESPN):

“I think the intensity Conor’s reaching is starting to show in the hard work he’s put into camp,” Malignaggi told ESPN. “I think he’s getting better and better. I really felt improvements from two weeks ago to now … I do see a guy who is implementing more and more of what they want to do in their game plan.”

This past Tuesday’s (August 1, 2017) session saw McGregor and Malignaggi go 12 rounds, and the recently retired boxer described the action as having ‘a lot of violence’:

“Lot of violence,” Malignaggi said. “I went in there to prove a point. I didn’t like the fact I had to fly across the country on Monday, and they have me scheduled for 12 [rounds] on Tuesday. I thought it was a little bit of a setup.

“Usually all sparring is private. I show up at the UFC headquarters and [former owner, Lorenzo] Fertitta is there. [UFC president] Dana White is there. So, I’m thinking these guys are thinking they’ll catch me right off the flight, set me up for him to look good in front of his audience. I didn’t like that. I kind of went in with a chip on my shoulder.”

In addition to bringing in Malignaggi, McGregor has also added Hall Of Fame boxing referee Joe Cortez to his camp to officiate his sparring sessions. Recently Cortez claimed that a sparring session between McGregor and Malignaggi got a little out of hand, a report Malignaggi confirmed:

“Conor wants his presence to be felt. He’s coming to win, right?” Malignaggi said. “He wants you to know you’re in a fight. He doesn’t want you to think it’s a picnic. So, any time he’s in the ring, he’s trying to make it as rough as possible — be it roughhouse tactics, be it trying to land hard shots.

“There was a pushdown yesterday. Conor on the inside, he can get a little rough. He shoved me down, you know, but no knockdowns. Obviously, 12 rounds, you’re gonna see there’s a mark on my face. Very, very hard work for both of us. I was starting to get in a groove in the middle rounds, starting to land some good shots. Conor really came on strong in the end. It was back and forth.”

Despite the mutual respect developed between the two champions during their time together inside the ring, Malignaggi doesn’t expect to be best friends with McGregor anytime soon:

“We’re like, I think the gist from Conor is we’re like ‘frenemies.’ I think somewhere in the middle,” he said.

“I don’t think we’re going to be best friends any time soon, but there was a lot more mutual respect after that kind of work last night,” Malignaggi said. “It was a lot more intense than the first one.”

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Paulie Malignaggi Says Conor McGregor’s Sparring Is Improving

With less than a month before Conor McGregor’s superfight with Floyd Mayweather, sparring partner Paulie Malignaggi saw encouraging signs from McGregor after watching the UFC champion train. 
“I think the intensity Conor’s reaching is starting to …

With less than a month before Conor McGregor’s superfight with Floyd Mayweather, sparring partner Paulie Malignaggi saw encouraging signs from McGregor after watching the UFC champion train. 

I think the intensity Conor’s reaching is starting to show in the hard work he’s put into camp,” Malignaggi said, per ESPN.com’s Brett Okamoto. “I think he’s getting better and better. I really felt improvements from two weeks ago to now … I do see a guy who is implementing more and more of what they want to do in their game plan.”

Malignaggi has been sparring with McGregor to help him prepare for Mayweather in the ring.

While working with Malignaggi should help him on Aug. 26 in Las Vegas, McGregor still faces what is nearly an impossible task of closing the gap on one of the best defensive boxers in the history of the sport.

McGregor’s a very good striker in the realm of mixed martial arts, and 18 of his 21 victories have come via knockout. If he has an opening, he can end the fight with one punch. But that’s far easier said than done against the 40-year-old Mayweather, who didn’t look to have lost a step in his most recent fight, a unanimous decision win over Andre Berto in September 2015.

McGregor shared a video of his training on June 29:

In doing so, he unintentionally illustrated the gulf between himself and Mayweather, who also posted a training clip on the same day:

According to OddsShark, McGregor is a 4-1 underdog against Mayweather.

McGregor may be able to silence his critics in Las Vegas in a little over three weeks, but many more experienced fighters stepped into the ring against Mayweather with the same intention and exited in defeat.

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