Only McGregor and Malignaggi know what took place inside the UFC Performance Institute.
MORE: Malignaggi quits McGregor training camp |
In a twist we should have seen coming, former two-division world champion and Showtime boxing analyst Malignaggi left the training camp of McGregor on Thursday a little more than three weeks before his showdown against Floyd Mayweather.
Malignaggi took to his Instagram page to explain why he was leaving the Las Vegas camp and heading back to New York after photos surfaced Thursday showing the UFC lightweight champion was getting the better end of the 12-round session Wednesday evening.
MORE: 37 astonishing UFC photos
We have heard Malignaggi's side of the story, but no statement has been released by McGregor on the matter. And perhaps we will never hear one. Both sides have an argument here as to who's right and who's wrong.
This partnership appeared to be a bad idea when it was announced before the Mayweather-McGregor world tour, considering Malignaggi bashed McGregor for wanting to fight Mayweather without ever having a boxing match, and McGregor coming back saying he would make Malignaggi pay in training.
It made all the sense in the world for McGregor, who's never had an amateur or professional boxing match. Here he could bring in someone with the experience of Malignaggi, learn different tricks of the trade, pick the brain of someone who has called past Mayweather fights, and learn the ins and outs of what makes the best boxer of this generation tick.
In Malignaggi's case, he would get a chance to get back into the gym to work the rust off, help someone conquer a feat the world isn't giving him much of a chance to do, and when he calls the fight on Showtime pay-per-view, he would be able to insight into McGregor that no one else would have.
It's easy to see why Malignaggi would be upset. He feels that he got sneak-attacked, with former majority owner of the UFC and now-minority owner of the company Lorenzo Fertitta and UFC president Dana White, and McGregor's entourage, in the gym two days ago to watch the session.
"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 by phone Thursday night. "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 is making a bigger deal out of it than it should be on that end. Fertitta and White have every right to be there. McGregor is their guy and is still under contract to the UFC. They are taking a huge risk in putting the 29-year-old in there to face the best boxer of this generation with no experience, and want to see how he's looking with someone of Malignaggi's expertise.
Where the analyst has a right to be upset is the photos of him not looking in the best positions, including one of him on the ground and McGregor standing over him, and one showing a left hand to Malignaggi's face. Some type of agreement should have been in place to prevent either fighter from being shown in a bad light.
McGregor could and should be upset that Malignaggi is doing interviews to outlets such as ESPN discussing the training sessions. McGregor should have kept everything inside the ring and told his people to keep things to themselves.
Only McGregor and Malignaggi know what took place inside the UFC Performance Institute. And the short marriage ended up going the way we all thought it would.
Is it Aug. 26 yet?
Steven Muehlhausen is an MMA and boxing writer and contributor for Sporting News. You can listen to his podcast, "The Fight Junkies" here. You can email him at [email protected] and can find him on Twitter @SMuehlhausenMMA.
