Conor McGregor is someone who has made many rivals over the years, and someone he began feuding with ahead of his Floyd Mayweather fight wants to battle ‘The Notorious’ in a high-stakes clash. That fighter in question is Paulie Malignaggi, and he expressed this during a recent interview on The Ariel Helwani Show. ‘Magic Man’ is preparing for his return to the ring for the first time since June 2019 and covered several subjects during his interview with Helwani.

The 44-year-old returns to the world of gloveless combat after losing on points to Artem Lobov at BKFC 6, and Malignaggi will take on former BKB champion Tyler Goodjohn in the headliner of BKB 47 on Saturday, October 18th. While he is in a multi-fight agreement with BKB Bare Knuckle Boxing, Malignaggi did mention some loose talks with Misfits Boxing and, in an even more loosely defined way, said that a McGregor clash would be of interest.

Putting out his unique challenge to the former two-division UFC champion, Malignaggi said,

“I’d challenge Conor McGregor to a winner-take-all fight. I said before, it’s got to be winner takes all because he convinced everyone of something completely fabricated. There’s a huge difference between us. It wouldn’t just be a supreme a** whipping; there’s a weight difference too. Honestly, at this point, it wouldn’t even matter the weight, I’d still beat the [expletive] out of the guy.”

Conor McGregor is dealing with an 18-month suspension

Conor McGregor is not exactly in any kind of prime position to take any kind of fight right now, never mind such a unique fight that Paulie Malignaggi was proposing. McGregor was dealt a suspension for a year and a half as a result of missing tests. Combat Sports Anti-Doping dealt out the sentence, which is retroactive to last September when the missed tests transpired, with ‘The Notorious’ being eligible to compete as early as March.

McGregor has indicated a desire to return to combat sports by competing on the June 2026 UFC White House card. The Dublin native has not competed since July 2021, when Conor McGregor snapped his leg in a widely viewed trilogy clash with Dustin Poirier.