Paulie Malignaggi and Artem Lobov’s recent scuffle has been making the rounds on social media and various news outlets. Both men are signed to the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship and were part of a recent BKFC media event this week. During the event, Malignaggi and Lobov came face-to-face, before the former WBA welterweight champion slapped “The Russian Hammer.”
Things were separated quickly before they got out of control. BKFC President David Feldman spoke to MMA Junkie after the incident. As a promoter, Feldman admitted “you want that kind of stuff,” but would have rather it not happened at that specific event:
“As a promoter, you want that kind of stuff to sell a fight. I didn’t want it here today,” Feldman said. “I wanted it after Saturday, but it happened – I just wanted to introduce Artem and his fight coming up and get everyone hyped about this fight.
“Artem bare knuckle is big news, then us signing Paulie Malignaggi, that’s bigger news, and I wanted to maybe preview what maybe could happen in June. But I never thought that was going to happen. I’m very surprised that they went face to face like that.
“I didn’t want to take anything away from Artem and Jason Knight. I just wanted to bring Paulie into the loop. He’s going to sit. He’s going to commentate the fights on Saturday night, so I wanted to get his face a little more recognized with Bare Knuckle and wow, as a promotion, you can’t ask for anything better than that.”
Lobov will make his BKFC debut on April 20 against fellow former UFC star Jason “The Kid” Knight. Malignaggi is hoping Lobov emerges victorious, as he’d like to fight Lobov in attempt to lure Conor McGregor back into the ring against him. The pair have some deep-seated issues with one another that need to be settled.
What do you think about Feldman’s comments on the Malignaggi and Lobov scuffle?
