Conor McGregor branded 'lucky' for career achievements with UFC icon accused of ducking fight
Conor McGregor has been branded lucky by old foe Paulie Malignaggi
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Conor McGregor has been branded 'lucky' for his career achievements by old foe Paulie Malignaggi.
The UFC star is considered one of the best fighters of all time, having won 22 of his 28 career battles.
McGregor has been absent from the sport ever since July 2021, however, when he sensationally lost to Dustin Poirier.
He had previously lost to the same opponent mere months earlier and it's currently unclear when he plans to return, though talk of a comeback in 2024 has arisen.
Paulie Malignaggi has taken aim at Conor McGregor amid their tense relationship
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Malignaggi and McGregor have long had a tense relationship.
And the 43-year-old has branded the Irishman as 'lucky' for what he's achieved throughout his career.
"McGregor was lucky to achieve what he achieved in his career, physically and talent wise he's up there, but just because you can do a bunch of high kicks from a Jean Claude Van Dam movie, doesn't mean you're a fighter; you need guts, you need a willingness to succeed, you need a willingness to enter the trenches and if you don't have that, you're going to fade," he told Action Network.
"We've talked about AJ [Anthony Joshua] losing that edge, but McGregor is on a different level.
"McGregor will quit on you, he does quit.
"AJ does not take as many risks anymore but at least he's not quitting.
"McGregor is an outright quitter. He is a fighter that was not as good as advertised, there was great marketing behind him.
"And the money he's made now isn't helping, so you've got a problem - all he's going to do is continue to be a punching bag.
"If you're a punching bag in your twenties, you'll definitely be a punching bag in your thirties.”
Malignaggi and McGregor used to spar with each other.
Yet the duo fell out in 2016 when Malignaggi insulted McGregor's chances of beating Floyd Mayweather in a boxing match.
The American was once tipped to fight McGregor in front of the eyes of the world.
But that fight never materialised and McGregor angered Malignaggi by posting footage of himself knocking his enemy down online.
However, the 43-year-old has now accused his enemy of ducking a fight.
He insists he'd have won - and that McGregor was too scared to face him.
"I'm a better trash talker than McGregor," he added.
"That's one of the reasons he did not fight me, I would have trashed him in the press conferences and the fight.
"It would have ended all of the hysteria around him because I would have destroyed him in the trash-talking and in the ring.
"I would have ruined the whole aura around him.
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Conor McGregor is one of the poster boys of UFC having won 22 of his 28 career fights
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"He was smart not to pull the trigger on a fight with me."