In the main event of Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship 6 this Saturday, Artem Lobov is taking on Paulie Malignaggi. The two have gone back-and-forth with trash talk, and it even got to the point where the former boxing champion spit on “The Russian Hammer” at a press conference.
Now, they will finally settle their differences inside the cage. There it will be Lobov’s second fight in BKFC, while it will be Malignaggi’s debut. With the experience in hand, Artem Lobov believes it won’t be a challenge for him to defeat Paulie Malignaggi.
“It ticks all the boxes for me except one,” Artem Lobov said to The Mac Life. “I always seek the highest challenge, the biggest challenge. I always look to truly challenge myself. When I was in the UFC I challenged some of the biggest guys in the world. When I was fighting in Europe I did the same. Anywhere I was, I always seek the hardest challenge. I win some, I lose some but I always take the hardest challenge.
“This is not the case this time, this is personal, this is about settling a score. This is about punishing someone that’s done a lot of wrongs. Somebody that’s been running his mouth a bit too much, somebody that’s been behaving like an animal, not like a human. Somebody that’s been so disrespectful on so many levels. I have to make this right, that’s what this is about.
“Fighting Paulie Malignaggi in bare-knuckle is not a challenge for me. He hasn’t got a clue what he’s in for here. He’s just preparing for a boxing, twelve-round fight. It’s not that.”
‘I want to punish this guy’
The now 32-year-old, Artem Lobov, plans to punish Malignaggi for the entire fight given everything he has said and done. And, he says he plans on doing for everyone, not just himself.
“I want to hurt this guy extra hard, I want to punish this guy extra long. I want to play with this guy as much as I want,” he said. “I want to get him for everything that he has said. I want to get him for everything that he has done — not just for me, but for everyone around the world.”
Who do you think will win the fight between Artem Lobov and Paulie Malignaggi on Saturday? Sound off in the comment section, PENN Nation!
This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 6/19/2019.