Paulie Malignaggi has promised to put Artem Lobov in a coma.
Paulie Maliganggi is doing everything in his power to lure Conor McGregor into the boxing ring.
The former two-division boxing champion is fighting McGregor’s longtime teammate and friend, Artem Lobov, in a bare knuckle grudge match in June, and ‘Magic Man’ knows the Irishman will be watching.
Maliganggi is hoping his upcoming fight against ‘The Russian Hammer’ sets up an even bigger grudge match against McGregor, whom he has been furious with ever since the former UFC ‘champ-champ’ released footage of their controversial sparring session in 2017.
Speaking to MMA journalist Helen Yee in a recent interview, Malignaggi said ‘The Notorious’ is going to want to fight him after he puts Lobov in a coma at BKFC 6.
“Once I put his boy in a coma, he’s gonna want to fight me,” Malignaggi said, per MMA Fighting’s Jed Meshew. “If he’s any kind of man, he would. So once I do that in June, he will want to fight me, but the conversation doesn’t even get initiated unless 12 rounds of sparring, unedited, the way it actually happens, comes out. If it doesn’t, then Conor doesn’t even start the conversation.”
“If Artem doesn’t have a corner that cares about him, he’s gonna get hurt. He’s gonna get very badly hurt. This is boxing, this is not mixed martial arts. Not to disrespect mixed martial arts but in boxing, people die. People get traumatic brain injuries in one night. This is not mixed martial arts where they’ve had as many traumatic brain injuries since the inception of the sport as boxing gets in one year. This is mainly head strikes and Artem doesn’t know how to defend himself.
“I’m telling you right now, if they don’t pull him out of this fight in the correct way, he’s going to get hurt. He’s going to get permanently hurt. This is actually a very professional fighter against a guy who basically belongs in a tough-man show.”
Malignaggi vs. Lobov is expected to headline BKFC 6, which takes place later this year, June 22 in New Hampshire. And who knows, perhaps McGregor will be in attendance for the event.