The well-documented feud between Conor McGregor and Paulie Malignaggi has led to the latter fighting Artem Lobov tonight at Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship 6 tonight. So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that McGregor talked strategy for the contest, with his longtime friend and training partner.
Malignaggi has had big time issues with McGregor, ever since he was brought in to help the Irish star prepare for his 2017 boxing match with Floyd Mayweather Jr. Malignaggi didn’t like the way McGregor’s camp portrayed/reported how their sparring went down, and he’s repeatedly blasted the former UFC champ since.
Well, BKFC knew a good/lucrative thing when they saw it, and Lobov will battle Malignaggi tonight in Tampa, Florida. Recently Lobov spoke with TMZ Sports, and when asked about whether he’s consulted with McGregor about tonight’s fight, he said this (quotes via MMA Mania):
“Absolutely, we spoke about the fight,” Lobov said. “Before every fight we always exchange strategies. We’re always kind of helping the other guy out into planning their strategy and how we’re going to approach the fight.
“But for this fight we had everything broken down at the time that the spar even happened. We already knew what we were dealing with and there’s nothing to be amazed by. There’s nothing special about him. This guy has no power. Fragile little hands. Plucked out eyebrows. He’s hiding his f—king bald patch. Look how insecure this guy is.”
It’s pretty crazy how much buzz this fight seems to have in the MMA world. Even with Bellator’s card today featuring 185 champ Gegard Mousasi taking on Rafael Lovato Jr, and UFC Greenville being headlined by Chan Sung Jung vs. Renato “Moicano” (which has the potential to be an outstanding contest).