Morning Report: Paulie Malignaggi attacks ‘piece of sh*t’ MMA community, explains why he wants to put Artem Lobov in ‘a f*cking coma’

MMAfighting.com

With only a month to go before Paulie Malignaggi and Artem Lobov settle their beef, things are starting to get extremely heated.

On Monday, Bare Knuckle FC held a press conference in promotion for its June 22 event, BKFC 6, headlined by the grudge match between Malignaggi and Lobov, and things did not get off to the classiest start. Malignaggi told Lobov he might “take my d*ck out an piss on you” after their fight but apparently couldn’t wait to expel bodily fluids on Lobov, instead opting to spit on him during the conference. Things did not really get better from there with Malignaggi saying he wanted to put Lobov in a coma. At this point, it’s clear that both parties truly dislike each other. After the presser, Malignaggi explained why.

“Lobov and the mixed martial arts community have really disrespected my sport in a lot of ways; boxing, saying that we fight with pads on and it’s not a real fighting sport and what not, but we have all the deaths,” Malignaggi told FightHype.com. “We have more of the deaths by a long shot. We have more of the permanent damage by a long shot. This is not to diminish the danger of mixed martial arts or any other combat sport, but there is a reason why boxing has more deaths and more traumatic brain injuries in one night, because we are the most dangerous combat sport.

“I don’t care how many 360 roundhouse kicks you can do, at the end of the day you can just [tap] and it’s over. In boxing, if you sit on your stool, you’ll never live it down the rest of your career. . . In MMA, Mr. Tap Machine Conor does it every fight. He’s done it what, three out of his last four fights? He’s not Notorious McGregor, he’s tapout McGregor but at the end of the day, he’s still the biggest star there. It’s more accepting to save your life. . . In MMA, they praise these guys. He’s over there selling whiskey and people are buying it. In boxing, if a guy quit as much as this guy quit and he tried to make any product, they’d kick him in his ass and say get the f*ck out of here with your bum product.”

Malignaggi and McGregor have their own sordid past, which was the genesis for this fight with Lobov. McGregor brought Malignaggi in as a sparring partner when training for Floyd Mayweather. One of them got their ass kicked and their ego couldn’t take it, but which one depends on whose version you believe. After their falling out, Malignaggi lobbied for a McGregor fight but with that not happening, BKFC decided to pay him to fight McGregor’s proxy. But the money wasn’t the only incentive for Malignaggi. The former IBF and WBA champion took the fight in part because he wants to teach the MMA community a lesson for bad-mouthing his sport.

“At days’ end, the reason for me to say ‘Put him in a coma’ or ‘kill him’ or whatever, listen, you don’t ever want, wish bad things on anybody, but honestly, would I feel bad if he wound up there? No, I wouldn’t feel bad because he disrespected all of the families and all of the people that I’ve known personally who have gone through this,” Malignaggi said.

“When your piece of sh*t community and your piece of sh*t people talk about ‘we fight with pads on and now you’re in a dangerous sport like MMA,’ when nothing of the sort happens to you which is why you have a circus of a fanbase because it’s like wrestling. At the end of the day, no matter what happens to you guys, [tapping] assures you you’re gonna see that guy next week. [Tapping] assure you you’re gonna see that guy in a few months. In boxing, you don’t have those assurances so there’s a respect level even to the trash talk that we have and it’s being surpassed now, it’s being overcome with this garbage that we have from this other community. For me, I think the way you solve it, seeing one of their own in a coma, seeing one of their own in a f*cking coffin, then you say, ‘You know what, this sh*t is not a joke.’

“Fighters risk their lives, no matter what combat sport they’re in. You’re risking your life getting in there, bro. Your life can change in one night. But no other sport does it change like boxing. Boxing does it to everyone and boxing does it at all levels, from the lower level to the world-class level. . . So there’s a reason that I talk the way I talk around this piece of sh*t and around the piece of sh*t people that he has around him. Because there’s a respect that needs to be earned and there’s a respect that needs to be given. So maybe since they don’t understand and know how to give it, maybe him winding up in a f*cking coma will make the whole community understand. And hopefully he wakes up from that coma if I put him in it and even then he’ll understand what I’m talking about.”

BKFC 6 takes place June 22 in Tampa, Fla.