Many fans who tuned in to watch Artem Lobov vs. Paulie Malignaggi at last night’s Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship 6 expected a bloodbath. Whether that meant Artem Lobov using his aggression to brawl or if it meant Lobov simply eating punches for 10 minutes or somewhere in between, fans expected more violence than they got. That expectation was no doubt influenced to some degree by Artem Lobov’s last outing against Jason Knight in a bare-knuckle fight that displayed nonstop action on both sides. Knight happened to be in attendance for yesterday’s special attraction bout, and he believes the reason the fight failed to deliver is because of mutual respect….and mutual fear (Transcript via MMA Fighting):
“I saw two fighters that were both kind of scared of each other. Paulie was just a little more scared than Artem was,” Knight said in the ring following the fight. “Paulie was scared to f*cking death. And Artem, he wanted to play it safe, I don’t blame him. The guy is supposed to be a way better boxer than you, you’re supposed to play it safe.
“All Artem had to do was take that fight away and he did.”
Knight’s assessment of Paulie Malignaggi and his character was on the harsher end. In Malignaggi terminology, Knight essentially believes that the former boxing champion did not “bring his balls”:
“Paulie’s soft and we proved it tonight,” Knight said. “The only reason that you saw Artem fight so hard in that last fight is because Jason Knight was there. This fight wasn’t nearly as exciting as it was last time.”
In closing, Knight promised that his sophomore BKFC appearance will prove more entertaining than Lobov’s:
“But I promise you August 10, Leonard Garcia is going to show up and he’s going to have to fight me.”
Do you agree with Jason Knight’s comments on the BKFC 6?
