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Tiernan Bradley was there the whole time. Rumor is that a Mayweather/McGregor documentary is coming at some point from Netflix that has the entire sparring footage - that was rumored like, what, two years ago?
But here's what Tiernan says specifically happened - with injected paraphrase claims from Paulie.
Paulie: "...felt like a crack house..."
Bradley: “It was me, Frans Mlambo, Dashon Johnson, Tommy McCormack [Cutman] and Conor’s massage therapist who we called ‘Dr Pain’ living there,” Bradley says. “Malignaggi grew up in Brooklyn and he’s complaining about bad conditions. I’ve been to Brooklyn and this was a six-bedroom house in Vegas. It was a desert house; you weren’t going to get a swimming pool in the back, with this, that and everything. We were in a small estate, we weren’t far from the strip and the UFC Performance institute, so, I think Paulie was walking in there thinking there was going to be a swimming pool, and a place to chill out with beers.”
Paulie: "...edited footage..."
Bradley: “Before the photos were leaked, Conor and Paulie had a pretty good relationship,” Bradley reflects. “When they first sparred it really put me back. Paulie was out of shape, but that was his fault. When you look at a spar and you think was it dominating? Yes, it was, Conor dominated him. Did Paulie catch Conor? Yes, he did. Did Conor nearly drop Paulie? Yes, he f***ing did.
“Regarding the infamous knockdown, I have to say, Paulie was on his last legs, it was a helping hand, like, ‘go down’. If that was a proper fight it would have been a ‘One, two, three…’ to allow him to get back up. His feet were heavy, he was tired and breathing heavy, his face was red like a plum tomato. Paulie was out of shape and Conor took advantage of that.
“In the second spar I was in Paulie’s corner. It was a terrible spar Paulie had, Conor beat the s*** out of him! After the seventh round I said to him, ‘You don’t need to do this; you’re retired.’ I said, ‘Frans [Mlambo] can hop in at any moment,’ he [Paulie] turned around to Artem Lobov and said, ‘No, it’s alright.’ I could see in his eyes he was concussed. He didn’t need the punishment - I was looking out for him. He was taking some heavy punches; those straight backhands were catching him absolutely lovely. Paulie was out of shape, there’s no doubt about it! Conor got the absolute better of him. I know why he was pushing for the fight, maybe he thought if he was in shape he could beat him; I can’t see it though.”
Tiernan continues, “When we went back to the house, I was driving Paulie home, and when I got out the car, he went to close the door and he stumbled into me. It wasn’t like he was concussed and he collapsed, but it was a stumble, by the time I got up the following morning he was gone, bags were packed, he never even said bye, I went back to the lads and said, ‘Paulie’s gone.’”
Now we know why Paulie was so gungho to fight young Artie Lobov - who proceeded to beat him in BKFC. Poor Paulie.
But here's what Tiernan says specifically happened - with injected paraphrase claims from Paulie.
Originally posted by SecondsOut
Paulie: "...felt like a crack house..."
Bradley: “It was me, Frans Mlambo, Dashon Johnson, Tommy McCormack [Cutman] and Conor’s massage therapist who we called ‘Dr Pain’ living there,” Bradley says. “Malignaggi grew up in Brooklyn and he’s complaining about bad conditions. I’ve been to Brooklyn and this was a six-bedroom house in Vegas. It was a desert house; you weren’t going to get a swimming pool in the back, with this, that and everything. We were in a small estate, we weren’t far from the strip and the UFC Performance institute, so, I think Paulie was walking in there thinking there was going to be a swimming pool, and a place to chill out with beers.”
Paulie: "...edited footage..."
Bradley: “Before the photos were leaked, Conor and Paulie had a pretty good relationship,” Bradley reflects. “When they first sparred it really put me back. Paulie was out of shape, but that was his fault. When you look at a spar and you think was it dominating? Yes, it was, Conor dominated him. Did Paulie catch Conor? Yes, he did. Did Conor nearly drop Paulie? Yes, he f***ing did.
“Regarding the infamous knockdown, I have to say, Paulie was on his last legs, it was a helping hand, like, ‘go down’. If that was a proper fight it would have been a ‘One, two, three…’ to allow him to get back up. His feet were heavy, he was tired and breathing heavy, his face was red like a plum tomato. Paulie was out of shape and Conor took advantage of that.
“In the second spar I was in Paulie’s corner. It was a terrible spar Paulie had, Conor beat the s*** out of him! After the seventh round I said to him, ‘You don’t need to do this; you’re retired.’ I said, ‘Frans [Mlambo] can hop in at any moment,’ he [Paulie] turned around to Artem Lobov and said, ‘No, it’s alright.’ I could see in his eyes he was concussed. He didn’t need the punishment - I was looking out for him. He was taking some heavy punches; those straight backhands were catching him absolutely lovely. Paulie was out of shape, there’s no doubt about it! Conor got the absolute better of him. I know why he was pushing for the fight, maybe he thought if he was in shape he could beat him; I can’t see it though.”
Tiernan continues, “When we went back to the house, I was driving Paulie home, and when I got out the car, he went to close the door and he stumbled into me. It wasn’t like he was concussed and he collapsed, but it was a stumble, by the time I got up the following morning he was gone, bags were packed, he never even said bye, I went back to the lads and said, ‘Paulie’s gone.’”
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