Conor McGregor responds to Paulie Malignaggi wanting to fight him: ‘Join the queue’

If Paulie Malignaggi wants a crack at Conor McGregor, he’s going to have to wait in line.

On Wednesday, during a media conference call promoting McGregor’s upcoming Aug. 26 boxing bout against Floyd Mayweather, the UFC lightweight champion addressed Malignaggi’s recent comments on the latest episode of The MMA Hour about wanting a fight with him. Although the Irishman didn’t fully say he was interested in competing against the former WBA and IBF champion, McGregor did tell Malignaggi to join the line of fighters that want to get their hands on the him.

“Look, Ariel (Helwani), tell the kid to join the queue,” McGregor said. “Tell him to shut his mouth an join the queue. ... He got his ass whooped and went sprinting, I don’t know what else to say about the guy. But hey, there is a big list of people that want to get in there and fight me, so tell him to join the queue and we’ll see what happens after the (Mayweather) fight.”

The beef between Malignaggi and McGregor has been around for some time, but it really took off recently, after Malignaggi controversially left McGregor’s training camp due to leaked photos which Malignaggi believed made him look bad and didn’t accurately portray his sparring session with McGregor. Yet, that drama was topped last Friday when McGregor fired back, saying Malignaggi was concussed and beat up during their sparring. It didn’t help Malignaggi’s cause when UFC president Dana White released a clip of Irishman knocking down Malignaggi later that day.

It’s still unknown who got the better of the complete sparring session, as the full footage hasn’t been released. However, it appears that Las Vegas oddsmakers didn’t think much of the “knockdown” clip, as betting site Bovada released odds for the hypothetical boxing match on Wednesday, opening Malignaggi as a more than two-to-one favorite over McGregor.

Below are the opening betting odds released Wednesday for McGregor vs. Malignaggi:

Paulie Malignaggi vs Conor McGregor

Paulie Malignaggi -225 (4/9)

Conor McGregor +175 (7/4)

**Bout must take place in 2017 for action.