Dana White posted several video clips of the controversial sparring session between Conor McGregor and former WBA and IBF champion Paulie Malignaggi on his Instagram page late Friday night.
The controversy came when Malignaggi, who was sparring with McGregor in preparation for his upcoming fight with Floyd Mayweather, objected to a photo posted by team McGregor that showed Malignaggi on his back.
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After the photo was posted, Malignaggi said that he “came to help this camp out, not to be exploited,” and he quit as McGregor’s sparring partner shortly after. He claimed that the photos of him laying on his back didn’t accurately portray his sparring session with McGregor.
There remained some question as to how Malignaggi got to his back in the photo posted by McGregor’s camp, until Dana White posted video of the knockdown Thursday night (Video at top).
Malignaggi would go on to say that McGregor got the better of him over the first five rounds, but said he took over from the sixth round and beyond.
White posted another video that shows McGregor landing some pretty strong punches against Malignaggi.
While both fighters maintain that they were victorious in their sparring sessions, Malignaggi did soften his stance a bit on the issue.
“I believe Conor and I have a mutual respect inside the ring, earned from each other with some good work over 2 sparring sessions,” Malignaggi said in a statement posted to his Twitter account. “It’s some of the stuff outside the ring and some ways some things were handled in training camp that I didn’t agree with that made me come to this decision.”
McGregor maintains that he “whooped” Malignaggi during the sessions, according to ESPN.
“He tried his best, but he got his ass whooped,” said McGregor. “Tell me how his face looked. Tell me how his temple looked. He was badly, badly concussed after those rounds. Badly rattled. He was flattened and knocked down. The ropes kept him up multiple times.”