Rogan & Callen Talk Paulie Malignaggi, Khabib, and Boxing

I had Pauline Malinagy, he was at my gym, and then he kind of knew, he goes, wait a minute, I just figured out who the fuck you are. You're the guy from the, ahh, he's freaking out. So I take that opportunity to ask him, like I'm just asking him, like, some boxing questions. Next thing I know he's giving me a boxing lesson. How fucking cool is that? That is cool. Pauline Malinagy, yes, it was three days ago. Is he really going to do that bare knuckle box? Sure is. Yeah, and he's taking it personally. Yeah, but man, you don't want to break your hands, you don't want to get your face cut up. Is he done fighting, like boxing? All I know is he looked like he was in shape. He was like, and he was giving people pointers. He's very, he looks, he seems, I listen to him a lot on, you know, Showtime stuff. He's cerebral as hell. I mean, he knows the game. He's a very smart guy. He doesn't get hit a lot. No. Yeah. I mean, you think about a boxer that can talk as well as he can, as articulate as he is, and understand. I mean, if you watch the way he fights, like watch his fights with Adrian Broner, like he knew how to figure out the puzzle that's Broner's hand speed and power punching, and he punches in volume. He's always in great shape. He was showing me patterns, like just basic things that I was like, damn. I really want to see the actual sparring match between him and Connor because all the UFC released is Connor cracking him. I know. It's a long one. It had to be. There had to be some fun moments in that. Yeah. I mean, apparently Pauli got off a plane and then he hadn't, it wasn't even really, he wasn't even working out that much. He thought he was going to train with them. Yeah. He didn't know. We're going six rounds or something. He was like, what? And they film it. Yeah. That's it. And then they use it as a promo. Right. Look, people are ruthless, bro. The idea that they weren't going to use that is more ridiculous. Come on. Who are you? You don't understand how this business works. But he's a promoting of. They're promoting of. He's a Brooklyn kid. He's a smart guy. Listen, they're promoting a fight that is going to generate hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. You think that they're going to spare your sensibilities. They're going to spare your feelings and not show edited versions of you getting popped. But my problem is, so I have a problem with that all across the board because I feel like when common decency, fair play, you know, a contract and sort of a contract you enter, I'm coming out to help you out. Yes. And then what you're going to do is use me. Go fuck yourself. Like, it's not. I believe it's a item. I understand. I understand it's a business. I believe they paid them. I'm sure they did. I believe he signed paperwork over it. I'm sure they did. But that's a sneaky move. It's fuck yes. And I have a problem with it. Fuck yes. In general, I just don't like justifying anything because it's going to be good promotion. I'm always uneasy. You know how people say, hey, man, bad press, but you're talking about them. Yeah, but fuck off. I completely agree with you. However, to play devil's advocate, if I'm Mr. Businessman, Mr. Moneybags, that shit just went in one ear and out the other. I don't know what you're talking about. That's a video of some shit that actually happened. If you hate the truth, because if you hate the truth, I can understand why you wouldn't want to show in that video. But Connor did drop him. He did hit him with a left hand and it's going to be a great fight. Connor McGregor versus Floyd Mayweather. And ironically, it might have been good for Paulie in terms of it creating this fight with our team. I mean, it creates, you're talking about him. Yeah. Although I think Paulie Malinagy stands on his own, not only as a boxer, but as an announcer. Yeah. I mean, he's got a real name and he's an excellent boxer. He's probably one of the better commentators in the game, if not the best. Oh yeah. Very, very good. 100%. Him and Andre Ward. Andre Ward's probably my favorite. And Roy Jones Jr. Roy Jones Jr. is outstanding at it too. Yeah, he is. Andre Ward, just like. He's a brilliant, brilliant guy. Brilliant guy. Just watching him like figure out Kovalev too. Right, especially in the second fight. Unbelievable. Yeah. In fact, he dropped Kovalev with a body shot. And Kovalev said they didn't give him a chance, that they just stopped the fight. But it didn't look like he wanted to keep going. I felt like that way with Amir Khan. Like, and people are like, oh, listen, man. Amir Khan has nothing to prove. He has an amazing record. He's fighting a genius in Crawford and probably, and there's no shame in this, he was supposed to fight Kell Brooks. And he kind of went, you know what? This guy is, time is on his side and he's kind of figured this out. He's bigger and he's going to connect. He's going to hit me and maybe hurt me here. I don't feel like doing this anymore. If that was the case, I forgive him for everything. It's like, I thought it was a smart decision to find him. Maybe he was really hurt. He's a warrior. I'm not saying he's not, but. The Kell Brook fight would have actually got Amir Khan more money. It was actually a more valuable fight. Yeah, he wanted to test himself. And he decided to take the fight against Crawford. He's a real fighter. If Crawford's not the best pound for pound fighter on earth, he's number two. He's one or two. I want to see him with Earl Spence. Well, him, Earl Spence is fantastic too, but I think the argument of pound for pound is Lomachenko and him. That's the argument. Those two guys are number one. Yeah. I mean, who do you think is number one? I mean, I think the argument. You're talking about Earl Spence? You're talking about Crawford. Crawford. I don't know if they fought, I don't think Crawford's fought enough competition. When he fights Earl Spence, and I think that Lomachenko has probably had more fights than you can really get into this conversation because he beats everybody. But he hasn't. He has less fights. But he said less fights. He won the world title with four fights. Yeah. Or was it, how many fights? It was something ridiculous like that. I mean, he fought a world class fighter his first time out. When I saw him fight Jorge Muza, amazing Mexican fighter, or somewhere like that, who is the guy he fought? Pull up his record here. He's 13 and 1 and Crawford's 35 and 0. Yeah. Wow. Big difference. But boxing's tricky that way, right? So what's the level of competition? Does they bring you up slow? Well, the difference is Lomachenko had an extensive amateur background internationally. But so did Crawford. Crawford had a great amateur background too. Look, Crawford, the difference is Crawford's way bigger. That's the difference. Same size, it would be really interesting to see what would happen. But Crawford's a lot bigger than him. He would, I mean, it's not a good fight. No. But to watch him take Rigandao and all these amazing fighters. Rigandao. Rigandao? I thought it was Rigandao. I don't think so. Rigandao? The way he pronounced it in French is Rigandao. Rigandao. Rigandao. But yeah, he dismantles people. His footwork is unparalleled. But Terrence Crawford, man, first of all, he's probably the best switch hitter ever next to Marvin Hagler. He might be better. I mean, it's hard to say. I know. He can fight. How do you game plan for that? He fights so good Orthodox and so good Southpaw. But to watch Linares, that's a Jorge Linares, I think, is a sick fighter. And to watch him, he knocked Lomachenko down. But then again, like this guy figures you out. He goes, I know what you're doing now. And then you're done. Well, so does Crawford. I mean, that was Anderson Sylvan as prime too. He would just figure out your timing. Figure out what you do, how you enter, where the gaps are, where the holes are. Okay, I see the key to the castle. Let's rock. And then somewhere around the end of the first round, Anderson would start switching stances on you and fucking doing some Bruce Lee moves. And the next thing you know, he's got his foot in your face. Yeah, that's right. He just figures you out. That's exactly right. These guys are just the really elite of the elite fighters. They're just the best at solving the little riddle that is what your skills are. Now, how do you solve the riddle that is Khameeb Nergamot? That's a different riddle. Yeah. Because that motherfucker is not on the outside boxing you and he's going to grab you. Connor for a while, Connor for a while, you know he's going to take you down. But what it looked like Connor for a while was isolating. He had two hands on that wrist. He was stopping him for a long time from closing his hands. And that seemed kind of effective for a while. I mean, good luck. It's a long road. It's like saying you're running a marathon. Hey, you know, he beat me in the marathon, but for the first hundred yards, I was way ahead. I know. That's what it's like. It doesn't matter. Because it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. This is a five round fight. Like, okay, keeping me from grabbing my hands for now. Are your hands tired yet? Yeah. How are your forearms? No, I'm going to take you down. He's just going to keep going. He's going to take you down. That guy is so relentless and the skill level and the endurance level he has to pursue that pace for five rounds. Like, I don't think I even appreciate it. I mean, I can intellectualize it and I could describe it. But I think when you're in there with him, like when he fought Edson Barbosa and he had Edson Barbosa up against the cage. Come on, buddy. It's mine. Give up. Edson has this. No, that was against Michael Johnson. Edson has this thousand yard stair where he's getting mauled. It's just like he's like breathing. He's like, oh, fuck. Like this is a different kind of human being. Those Russians are, that's a different kind of human being. The Augustanis. So they grow up fighting. And he's a baby. He's a savage. Well, that culture, they were, they suffered a great deal. That's the look. He's like, Jesus Christ. What the fuck did I sign up for? Just getting mauled. And I love, I love Khabib. Looks like his legs, his body looks like, you know, a guy you see at the pool. Kind of works out maybe a little. It just doesn't. He looks pretty fit. I don't know what the fuck he's talking about. No, that guy looks fit. Barbosa's really muscular. Khabib's jacked, man. What are you talking about? He just isn't. Show a photo of Khabib like making like a most muscular pose or something. So he's fucking pretty jacked. He's just not though. He's just a freak. No, not compared to a lot of dudes. Yeah. Go down there. Look at that. You know, cause he's, dude, what are you talking about? He's jacked. But not, you know. He looks like a really strong grappler. He's got a full fucking big back. We know he is, but really, look at him like. Shut your mouth. Hey, that's pretty good there. Shut your dirty, lie-spilling mouth. He's pretty good there. What about that one right there? How about that one? Cut the shit, bro. I mean, it's not. You're muscular. You look like that when you're in the theater. I'm on TRT. Yeah, but when you were younger, that's what you look like? I don't say steroids. It's basically the same. If I was in there, you would call it steroids. You were always like that? Yeah, I was always like that. Yeah. Yeah, when I was younger, I was like that too. You might have been more muscular actually when I first met you than that. I didn't even take vitamins. No, you were just jacked. I remember. First time I met TV, you were jacked out of your mind. And it was just cause you lifted weights. Well, that was when I was just getting into jujitsu, so I really started lifting weights heavy because I was tired of getting mauled. Yeah. So I really got into lifting weights. I was like, I am weak. I'm like, because I'm used to striking. Striking is so different than grab one. In terms of the demands on your muscles and your fatigue. But it works the other way too. Because I remember I hadn't done any striking at all in like a year. I had done none, zero, just jujitsu. And then my friend Jamie and I started doing, Jamie is a trainer. And we were doing this training session and he had me hit mitts too. And like just hitting mitts for like a couple of minutes. I was gassed out. I was like, how is this possible? I was like, I roll all the time. I'm in good shape right now. Sparring's that way. When you get, we get guys who are triathlons leads to whatever they come in. And Wayne McCulloch, shout out to the great Wayne McCulloch, my trainer, I love. I love that guy. He's the best. I fucking, that's one of my favorite people in the world. Like whenever I see him, all is right in the world. He's just a humble man. Never medalist in the Olympics, world champion. And nobody asks him questions in the gym. It's like he, you have this goldmine, this guy here who's who've beat Morales, who fought Prince Nauseem to the distance and nobody knows it. And he never tells anybody and I'll see these guys hidden. And I'm like, Wayne, why don't you tell them? And he goes, they don't ask me. I don't, I don't bother them. He's just the most humble dude in the world. Like it drives me fucking nuts. But long, but anyway, we'll get like triathletes, people who are in really good shape. But if you, if you're sparring and you're afraid to get hit, you stop breathing. And so in three minutes, in two minutes, I don't care how good a shape you're in. The minute you get punched once you're like, it took me literally, it probably took me three years to get over that in a way. Because I have no confidence as a boxer and I shouldn't.