The time has finally come for Paulie Malignaggi and Artem Lobov to step inside of the ring this weekend at Bare Knuckle FC 6 live on FITE.TV pay-per-view (PPV) from Tampa, Florida, and settle their long-lasting beef.
While the rivalry between the two combat fighters originally stems from a Conor McGregor vs. Malignaggi sparring session back in 2017, both Lobov and Malignaggi have taken their own feud to the next level. Even though the bad blood has revolved around trash talking and personal attacks, Malignaggi went out of his way to spit at the former UFC fighter last month during the first official press conference for BKFC 6.
Luckily, fight fans got even more trash talk earlier this week when Lobov and Malignaggi stepped on stage for the final BKFC 6 press conference. Things did not escalate physically, due in part to former UFC light heavyweight title challenger Anthony Johnson standing in the way, but the verbal banter remained high.
“The talk is over for me. I’ve said everything I have to say,” said Lobov. “I just want to get this man in here on Saturday night and show the world what happens when you run your f—king mouth the way he did. He’s only here for the money. We all know it. This is the sad truth of boxing, it could happen to any one of us.
“Saturday night he’s going to make a nice paycheck, I’m going to make two holes in his head and we’re going to go home happy.”
Malignaggi, who has really sunk his teeth into Lobov over the past few months, refuted Lobov’s claim that he’s returning to the ring for a cash grab.
“You broke b—ch, sit the f—k down,” Malignaggi shouted at Lobov. “It’s the biggest fight of your career cause you started s—t with me. Get the f—k out of here. I don’t need money, I like money, there’s a difference.
“This guy always has nothing to say and then when I get on stage he wants to talk more than me.”
Lobov, who trains alongside the biggest trash talker in MMA history (McGregor), believes that Malignaggi has gone too far with his verbal barrages. “Russian Hammer” went as far as saying Malignaggi’s own parents are disappointed in his actions.
“Come on now, no one respects this guy. How could you respect this guy?” Lobov said. “I guarantee you his own parents are watching him at home going ‘where did it all go wrong?’. Like ‘how did we not bring this guy up the right way, what is wrong with our son?’.
“There is such a thing as building a fight, that’s no problem, we’re going into fight each other. That takes certain levels of intensity that you have to have. You’re going in there to hurt the guy and he’s going to do the same to you so that’s understandable. But this guy has crossed over the line and I think anybody who has any kind of respect in them, that understands what respect is, will not be on this guy’s side.”
So, Maniacs, will you be watching this weekend? If so, who do you think will have the final say between Malignaggi and Lobov?
MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire BKFC 6 fight card on Sat. night, starting with the FITE.TV “Prelims” undercard bouts streamed free at 8 p.m. ET, followed by the FITE.TV PPV main card start time of 9 p.m. ET.