Recently, Conor McGregor and his camp have been making a lot of statements. First, McGregor’s coach John Kavanagh said that his charge wanted to fight Paulie Malignaggi in the UFC. Then, over the weekend, the UFC lightweight champion came out and lambasted Robert Byrd, the referee in his boxing match with Floyd Mayweather Jr., saying that he didn’t “get a fair shake” and that he “knows” he’d win a rematch. So with all these shots being taken at boxing and himself, it’s unsurprising that McGregor’s former sparring partner got his dander up.

Taking to social media yesterday, Malignaggi went after McGregor for his comments, saying the lightweight champion had “no balls” for trying to fight him in the cage instead of the ring, and mocking McGregor’s loss to Mayweather, specifically for what Malignaggi says was quitting in the ring.

Malignaggi didn’t stop there. The former world champion boxer also spoke with EsNews, doubling down on his comments and saying that since McGregor was so adamant that he won their sparring sessions, he needed to back up his talk in a legitimate boxing match.

“You talked all this s**t about how you handled it in the cage, now not only are you not releasing the video, but now you want to not box either? Nah, he doesn’t want it that way. You’ve got to be a man and prove yourself. You’ve got to show what kind of balls you’ve got. It’s easy to talk all that s**t, now since it was so easy, you’ve got to box and you’ve got to prove it. No, we’re not going in a cage because that’s not where you “handled me.” You “handled me” in the ring, right? So now go and prove it.

“He’s got to man up now. He’s got to stand up for what he said or he’s gonna continue to prove what I said about him, that he’s got no balls.”

Malignaggi retired from boxing earlier this year and was initially a sparring partner brought in to help McGregor train for Mayweather; but after their fallout over the controversial sparring video, Malignaggi has been actively pursuing a match with McGregor. In a year which has seen several high profile retirements from boxing, Malignaggi says he’s willing to forego his if it means he can prove that the released footage was not indicative of the actuality of the session.

“I retired in a weird year. I guess all the more reason why I should come back and smack McGregor. Or he could just play the video, and you could see that was me at 20 percent so what would happen at 100 percent? If he could do that, I’ll take that.”

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MUST-READ STORIES

Well done. The UFC will donate $1M to families affected by Las Vegas shooting.

Rumble. Anthony Johnson set to meet with the UFC about a possible return at heavyweight.

Farewell. Rafael Natal officially retired from MMA.

Facepalm. Kevin Lee says he might grant Conor McGregor a title shot after UFC 216.

Title shot. Alistair Overeem says he’s been told he’ll be given a title shot with a win over Francis Ngannou.

Out. King Mo forced to withdraw from bout with Liam McGeary at Bellator 185.

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VIDEO STEW

Rankings report.

DJ making life hard for Kevin Lee. We don’t deserve him.

TMZ had a lot today.

Ferguson remix.

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LISTEN UP

The MMA Hour. The biggest interviews in MMA from the best in the biz.

The Co-Main Event. Looking at the big fights coming up this weekend.

Anik and Florian. Walt Harris interview plus fight analysis.

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SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

Good people.

A lot happened yesterday, most of it bad.

The makings of a title fight.

Cub gave up on his campaign for a title shot it seems.

Grasso says she had a knee injury before her last fight and just had surgery on it.

Someone call RIZIN, stat.

A different kind of call out.

The same old kind of call out.

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FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Kalindra Faria (18-5-1) vs. Mara Romero Borella (11-4, 1 NC); UFC 216, Oct. 7.

Aung La N Sang (20-10) vs. Alain Ngalani (3-3, 1 NC); ONE Championship, Nov. 3.

Jose Torres (5-0) vs. Gleidson DeJesus (7-2); Titan FC 46, Nov. 17.

David Teymur (6-1) vs. Drakkar Klose (8-0-1) UFC 218, Dec. 2.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

Not much else to say today but that our thoughts our with everyone impacted by the tragedy in Las Vegas. See y’all tomorrow.

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If you find something you'd like to see in the Morning Report, hit me up on Twitter @JedKMeshew and let me know about it. Also follow MMAFighting on Instagram, add us on Snapchat at MMA-Fighting, and like us on Facebook.