Having found notoriety among MMA fans for sparring with Conor McGregor in 2016, Chris Van Heerden is ready to do it again – providing he gets paid this time
Former IBO welterweight champion Van Heerden recently spoke with TMZ Sports about the public fallout between Conor McGregor and Paulie Malignaggi. The South African sympathized with the “Magic Man” due to what he feels was a similar experience encountered when training with “The Notorious”.
Prior to McGregor’s rematch with Nate Diaz in 2016, Van Heerden assisted the Irishman in his preparations ahead of the UFC 202 headline bout. Much to the surprise of the boxer, edited footage was leaked which appeared to show McGregor looking impressive in the sparring exchange. When unedited film emerged a short while after, however, things looked very different – McGregor looked clearly out of his depth.
Malignaggi sensationally relinquished his role as chief sparring partner of McGregor last week, citing a leaked photo of him on his back as the prime reason for his departure. Malignaggi claimed that the photo, which promoted by the Irishman’s camp as a knockdown for McGregor, was actually a moment captured by the camera following a push by the 29-year-old UFC superstar.
Van Heerden was one of a number of members of the boxing community unimpressed by the fracas and responded with an offer to Camp McGregor ahead of the Mayweather vs. McGregor bout on Aug. 26:
“If he pays me, I’ll go beat him up,” Van Heerden told TMZ. “Because you know what, the first time I helped him out of a good heart, my coach was there. I didn’t ask him for any money, [I did it] for free. And then they done me bad.”
“So if they want me back, they better pay me.”
According to Van Heerden, McGregor owes Malignaggi an apology at the very least:
“[Paulie] got pushed down, and then they made it seem like he got knocked down,” Van Heerden continued. “It’s sad that he’s been done this bad, and he clearly said it in his statements on social media. And I think he deserves an apology, at least.”
“Even if there’s bad blood, he went there, only having good things to say about McGregor, going to help him, and then the same thing happened to him, what happened to me. Now I hope the people that were calling me a snake, that they just open their eyes and see that he’s done it twice. Twice now.”
