According to UFC superstar Conor McGregor, he intentionally made things very hard when he sparred with two division champion Paulie Malignaggi.
McGregor had retained the services of Malignaggi as a sparring partner for a scheduled August fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
McGregor, who made his professional debut as a boxer, was stopped in the tenth round by Mayweather.
As far as the beef with Malignaggi, the two had a falling out in training camp.
Malignaggi left the camp after feeling disrespected by McGregor's team - after they leaked photos of their sparring sessions to social media and made it appear like Malignaggi was dropped in a sparring session and took a lot of punishment.
McGregor says he was intentionally hard on Malignaggi during sparring, because he claims the Brooklyn boxer had conducting numerous interviews - before and during the training camp - where he himself made disrespectful comments.
Malignangi, who retired earlier this year, is ready to settle their beef in the ring. McGregor however, has no interest in facing Malignaggi in a boxing ring and wants to bring him over to the UFC.
The two athletes have been trading words for the last few months.
"He's a f***ing rabbit, I swear to God," McGregor said. "I have no problem with that man. He came in, he's done what he was asked to do. He knew what it was, he knew it was a fight. You knew it wasn't a spar, you're coming in, we were gonna fight and that's it. He went and started to do interviews and expected good treatment and respect. What do you expect if you go running your mouth?"
UFC President Dana White is not looking to have McGregor back in a ring, he wants him back in the cage - hopefully to defend the UFC lightweight title.