PAULIE MALIGNAGGI has not given up on his pursuit of settling the score with hated rival and “massive flop” Conor McGregor.
Since the pair feuded over two Las Vegas sparring sessions – that included a disputed knockdown of Malignaggi – both men have taken bitter swipes at each other.
The rivalry looked to have been put to bed without McGregor even fighting, after his training partner and pal Artem Lobov scored a shock points win over “MagicMan” Malignaggi in a bare-knuckle bout.
However, the retired 38-year-old boxer called for a “winner takes all” fight in the ring – with or without gloves.
Malignaggi told talkSPORT: "I’d fight him winner takes all, I’ve said that for years.
“Whoever loses doesn’t get a penny, I’d be all for that. In the Octagon he beats me, come on. We can do it bare-knuckle, we can do it boxing.
"He’s a massive flop in general, he’s a better salesman than he is a fighter. Has he ever defended a title in the UFC?
"What has he done? He’s shot at 31-years-old.
"At 31-years-old I won my second world championship. You can’t tell me the guy’s shot at 31-years-old? Come on.”
Malignaggi first crossed paths with McGregor when he was invited into the Irishman’s training camp as he prepared to make his ring debut, against Floyd Mayweather in 2017.
After two sparring sessions, over eight rounds and then the full 12, it looked as though it was a competitive but cordial rivalry.
But after leaked images and footage surfaced which suggested Malignaggi was taking a beating from the boxing novice, the American stormed out of camp.
Since then the ex-world champion has remained a McGregor heckler and claimed to have seen the Irishman as a “quitter” way before his decline in the UFC, with The Notorious without a win since 2016.
Malignaggi added: “The thing that bothers Conor about me more than anything is the fact I pulled his card before everybody else realised it.
“The whole having no guts and being a quitter.
“Nobody knew that and in the past few years all he’s done is prove me right.
"I think he knew subliminally that I was always right about him and I think he didn’t like it.”
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