Showtime's Espinoza on McGregor vs. Malignaggi Being Next

Showtime Sports head Stephen Espinoza would not rule out the possibility of a future showdown between UFC superstar Conor McGregor and former two-division world champion Paulie Malignaggi.

This Saturday night, McGregor will make his professional boxing debut against five division world champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

One of the biggest side stories to the fight is the training camp fallout between McGregor and Malignaggi.

Malignaggi was hired to serve as a sparring partner for McGregor, as he prepared for Mayweather.

The retired boxer quit the camp, after members of McGregor's team leaked various images of their sparring session to the internet - including an image which made it appear as if Malignaggi was decked to the mat.

After Malignaggi quit, then UFC President Dana White received short video clips that showed Malignaggi taking punishment in the second sparring session.

The two fighters would continue to trade harsh words in countless interviews.

Earlier this week, McGregor and Malignaggi had a face to face confrontation during Tuesday's grand arrivals at T-Mobile.

Malignaggi, who is part of Showtime's broadcast team, will be working the pay-per-view from ringside.

Malignaggi is very interested in facing McGregor in the ring to settle their differences.

If the fans are interested in watching this fight, then Espinoza is interested in showcasing the bout.

“We are if the fans are [interested then so are we]. At the end of this, we’re here to serve an audience. So if there is demand, if there is interest among the audience...there seems to be. I certainly don’t want to count chickens, or dictate, but...but based on a variety of different factors there seems to be interest. So if that’s something Conor and the UFC wanted to entertain, and Paulie’s willing to come out of retirement, it would certainly be - we wouldn’t stand in the way. We’d certainly want to participate,” Espinoza told MMA Fighting.