Pro Referee Suggests Conor McGregor Did Knock Malignaggi Down

Having reviewed the now infamous footage released by Dana White last week, a professional ref states it was “maybe” worthy of a knockdown for Conor McGregor

The debate still goes on.

Did McGregor knock Paulie Malignaggi down in footage of their second sparring contest or were Malignaggi’s claims of a “pushdown” more credible? According to referee Tom Taylor, who is a licensed California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) boxing referee and judge, he would have potentially scored it as a knockdown…

Taylor said on Monday that he had reviewed the footage “multiple times, including in slow motion.” While admitting that it was hard to call the decision either way, the ref did lean towards a McGregor knockdown.

“I can’t tell you how I would have scored it live,” Taylor said. “I may have called it a knockdown, because the last thing to land was a short right hand to the side of Paulie’s head. That could still constitute a knockdown.

“It’s a judgment call and I think it could go either way. I wouldn’t argue it either way if a referee said it was a knockdown or no knockdown.”

“Taylor said the first few times he watched it he thought it was pretty clearly a knockdown. And he could understand a referee ruling it that way in real time. But after watching in slow motion, Taylor said there seems to be a lot of truth to Malignaggi’s explanation.”