They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well apparently, Conor McGregor has an awful lot to say to Paulie Malignaggi.

Recently, Maliginaggi signed with Bare Knuckle FC, where McGregor’s teammate and training partner Artem Lobov is currently signed. On Tuesday, at the BKFC media day for Lobov’s fight with Jason Knight on Saturday, Malignaggi showed up and slapped Lobov, starting a scuffle that will inevitably set the stage for a future fight between the two.

But the slap did more than set up a fight with Lobov; it also drew the ire of the recently retired McGregor, who posted to Twitter no less than 16 photos of his infamous sparring session with Malignaggi, showing McGregor seemingly beating up on the former world champion boxer.

Malignaggi’s beef with McGregor is old hat at this point, harkening back to McGregor’s boxing match against Floyd Mayweather. McGregor brought in Malignaggi as a training partner but things soured quickly as McGregor allegedly got the better of Malignaggi in sparring and the boxer couldn’t take it and left the camp. Malignaggi, of course, denies that is what happened however a brief snippet of the sparring footage released does show McGregor getting the better of the action and it’s from that footage that many of these photos appear to have been cropped.

Since their dispute, Malignaggi has been angling for a fight with McGregor and recently reupped his claims that McGregor is too scared to face him. But though McGregor is “retired” he has his own white whale to chase, the man who most recently beat him, Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Prior to announcing his retirement, McGregor said he was still aiming for a rematch with Khabib and yesterday, after taking his shots at Malignaggi, McGregor then turned his social media ire towards his nemesis, with a pair of Tweets attacking Nurmagomedov’s family.

(h/t MiddleEasy for the screenshot)

The attack on Nurmagomedov’s wife appears to be in response to Khabib recently calling McGregor a “a jealous wife who says ‘I will leave’ all the time but then comes back” when speaking to Russian media about McGregor’s retirement.

This kind of rhetoric was exactly what McGregor was suspended for earlier this year, as the NAC wanted to “rein in” “unacceptable” forms of trash talking. McGregor has since deleted both of the above Tweets but did make it clear he’s still in it for the rematch.

Considering what happened the last time Conor attacked Khabib’s family, it’s hard to imagine this won’t get McGregor the rematch he’s been looking for.

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MUST-READ STORIES

Altercation. Artem Lobov reacts to physical altercation with Paulie Malignaggi at BKFC media day.

Endless. Paulie Malignaggi: I’d beat Conor McGregor so badly his whiskey won’t sell anymore.

Grand Prix. Bellator officially announces 16-man featherweight grand prix, launching in October.

Bet. Yoel Romero and Jorge Masvidal have a friendly wager for 2019 — and it could turn out to be an expensive one.

Missed Fists. Brad Pickett gets ‘One Punch’ KO in bare-knuckle bout, more highlights.

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VIDEO STEW

I have no idea if these subtitles are correct but if so, an interesting interview with Khabib.

Forrest talking about the UFC PI with Rogan.

Anthony still angling for Conor.

Here’s a new angle of the Usman/Ali scuffle with Colby.

Paulie.

Free fight.

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LISTEN UP

Fights Gone By. Discussing Gaethje vs. Barboza and ONE New Era.

Show Money. Discussing the UFC’s ESPN deal, Endeavor going public, and DAZN price changes.

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SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

The GOAT.

Eddie.

Ouch.

Tony staying on that grind.

Mighty Mouse coming in with the controversy.

The self-love.

Fishing for an opponent.

Call out.

Cormier on his teammate’s lifetime ban.

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FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Leonardo Santos (16-3-1) vs. Stevie Ray (22-8); UFC Stockholm, June 1.

Paul Daley (40-17-2) vs. Erick Silva (20-10, 1 NC); Bellator 222, June 22.

James Gallagher (8-1) vs. Jeremiah Labiano (12-6); Bellator 222, June 22.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

I wonder if Conor realized how bad that Tweet was or if it was a PR person. Glad to see the NAC’s fines and suspensions really did a great job of dissuading this kind of behavior.

Thanks for reading and see y’all tomorrow.

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EXIT POLL

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