On Saturday night, in the main event of BKFC 6, Artem Lobov stepped into the squared circle for a bare knuckle scrap with former boxing champion Paulie Malignaggi. Despite being grossly less experienced in boxing than his foe, Lobov’s aggression and success in the clinch ultimately earned him an impressive, if slightly controversial decision victory.

Speaking on his social media accounts after the fight, the victorious “Russian Hammer” issued a quick statement on this victory, thanks his fans for their continued support.

https://twitter.com/RusHammerMMA/status/1142704617693822976

“Thank you all for your support, I couldnt have done it without you!!” – Artem Lobov on Twitter. 

While Artem Lobov is unsurprisingly very happy with his decision win over Paulie Malignaggi, not everybody agreed with the judges’ verdict. Malignaggi in particular is particularly disappointed.

“Honestly, I’m not even kidding… I got hit with one clean punch all night,” Malignaggi protested immediately after the loss. “In that one clinch I got hit with a couple of little good shots. In that one clinch, I think it was two little short shots he hit me with, in one of the clinches and that was it. I mean otherwise it was like little grazing shots that hit my stomach or grazed my face. I thought I pretty much out-boxed him the whole way.

“I’m pretty sure my right hand is broken,” he continued. “I felt a pain that I am pretty familiar with. But nonetheless, even after that I thought I boxed him pretty well. I got hit with a good shot in the third round, that was in the clinch, but other than I was hitting him with jabs on the way in and checking him with hooks constantly.

“Maybe the rules are different here,” Malignaggi concluded, admitting that perhaps a win over Artem Lobov was never meant to be. “Maybe, just maybe, this wasn’t meant to be. I thought I was easily winning the fight. I don’t know what to say about the decision. In my opinion I thought I was handily winning.”

While Paulie Malignaggi is having a tough time stomaching the judges’ decision, he did admit post-fight that he now has a degree of respect for Artem Lobov. Hatchet buried?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 6/23/2019.