Conor McGregor to spar with Paulie Malignaggi when he takes his Floyd Mayweather training camp stateside

The pair have buried any previous bad blood, after the American claimed he would 'knock the beard off' McGregor during one social media spat

Conor McGregor’s preparations for Floyd Mayweather took a further twist on Thursday with the revelation that the UFC Lightweight Champion will be working with Paulie Malignaggi ahead of his professional boxing debut, on August 26.

Less than two months ago, Malignaggi said that he’d “knock the beard off" McGregor, but it seems he’s changed his opinion on the Irishman as he will now play a part in McGregor’s preparations in the run up to his showdown with Mayweather.

Speaking on his From Brooklyn to the World podcast earlier this week, Malignaggi revealed that he’d received the call from McGregor just days ago.

"I did get called to go into camp with Conor McGregor," Malignaggi said. "I was surprised. I haven't really been training, I haven't been in the gym. So I've started working out a little bit. I'm working out the details to spar with McGregor."

The former WBA welterweight world champion retired earlier this year after losing to Sam Eggington at the 02 Arena on March 4.

Since then, he’s been very outspoken on social media about how one-sided he expects the fight between Mayweather and McGregor will be - and has even gone as far as calling out the Irishman himself.

Given what he’d said previously, Malignaggi admitted that he was as surprised as anyone that he got the call from Team McGregor.

"I did call him out, and I think that shows the character of the man,” Malignaggi said. “He could have said, 'Screw that kid, he called me out, I'm not going to put him in my training camp'. I think it shows the competitive spirit and the willingness to want to learn, on the part of McGregor.”

Malignaggi in action against Adrien Broner, in 2013 (Getty)

Malignaggi expects to join the camp when McGregor takes his preparations Stateside. The Irishman is currently working with three boxing specific sparring partners in Dublin including: Tiernan Bradley, Dashon Johnson, and Jay Byrne.

It’s also known that McGregor is using his longtime MMA sparring partner Artem Lobov in the lead up to the fight with Mayweather.