Former world boxing champion Paulie “Magic Man” Malignaggi was on hand in New York to help promote the upcoming Bare knuckle boxing event on April 6 featuring Conor McGregor’s training partner Artem Lobov in the main event against fellow former UFC fighter Jason Knight.
Malignaggi and Lobov are no strangers when it comes to personal beef. The two exchanged insults with each other on social media ever since McGregor’s team leaked footage of Conor sparring Paulie in preparation for the UFC superstars boxing debut against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2017.
The beef started when the photos and video posted online showed McGregor getting the better of the retired boxer turned fight announcer. Malignaggi took offense to this and said that the team broke the honor code and showed zero respect for him after he offered his services as a sparring partner to help him get ready for Mayweather.
Since then the bad blood Malignaggi has for team McGregor has never died off. He has called for a chance to face McGregor in a pure boxing match but the Irishman has refused to acknowledge or entertain such things. Instead, his good friend and training partner Artem Lobov has been taking shots at Paulie instead.
Since his release from the UFC, Lobov signed a 3-fight contract to fight in the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championships and during media rounds on Tuesday, he expressed his desire to fight Malignaggi who also recently signed on to fight in the organization.
Maliggnagi got up close and personal to Lobov and the two got into a heated exchange. Paulie was getting emotional and finally slapped Lobov with the Russian hammer rushing forward to attack him only to be pulled away by several people.
Shortly after the confrontation Lobov took to twitter and posted his thoughts about the slap and a fired a warning shot to Malignaggi.
“I am told you got a sly cheap shot in, I thought that was a mosquito!You know you get killed in a minute if the people weren’t there, You will be paying with your broken jaw!” @RusHammerMMA
If Lobov wins his bare knuckle boxing debut against Knight, a super fight with Malignaggi would likely be the biggest event of the young company and draw some mainstream interest with Conor McGregor likely ringside to cheer his mate on.
Lobov will headline the BKFC 5 event with Jason Knight at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi, MS on Saturday, April 6, 2019.
