Malignaggi To Compete in Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship

[Ruthless-RKO]

Former two-division world champion boxer and boxing commentator Paulie Malignaggi has signed an exclusive deal to compete for Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC). Malignaggi is expected to make his BKFC debut in June 2019 at a location yet to be determined.

"This is great signing for Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship," said BKFC Founder and President David Feldman. "At this time in our company's growth, we needed to add a legitimate and well-established world champion boxer to our roster, and I believe with Paulie's ability and personality we've done just that. Paulie is the perfect fit for us."

"BKFC is the new wave in combat sports. They're doing great things and I'm very excited to be a part of this organization," said Malignaggi. "I've accomplished some big things in boxing career, and I look forward to what this next phase brings. After a long boxing career, it's easy to miss the limelight and the rush that combat brings. I look forward to getting back in action and the new challenge of fighting for BKFC."

Malignaggi, a 38-year-old native of Brooklyn, NY, battled some of the top names in the super lightweight and welterweight divisions as a professional boxer. In June 2007, Malignaggi defeated Lovemore N'dou by unanimous decision to capture the IBF Super Lightweight Title. Malignaggi defended that title twice before losing the belt to Ricky Hatton in November 2008. In April 2012, Malignaggi won his second world title, defeating Vyacheslav Senchenko by technical knockout to secure the WBA Welterweight Title. He successfully defended the WBA title once before suffering a split decision loss to Adrien Broner in June 2013.

[Onekrazyrican]

Interesting choice by Paulie... I guess he views it as a chance to compete against Tough Man contest level foes where his skills will be so way above the rest that it would be like when Larry Holmes fought Butter Bean.

[oogiebe]

Too many shots to the head.

[Coco]

I guess he's not earning much and I guess he must have a couple of quid too, must just love it.

[Onekrazyrican]

Ive always liked Paulies mindset. Ever since I saw him against Cotto and then that documentary of him before that fight I had a feeling he was destined to be great. Lacked the punching power to be great as a boxer but maybe a trainer or something else. Then I saw him as a commentator and Im sure hell achieve greatness there. No need for this kind of venture IMO but I guess that itch for competition is too damn hard to overcome.

[SenorPipino]

Do you think he might hit a bit harder without gloves?

[jamamb]

ive seen a few former boxers in these and they often end up looking pretty much just like boxing matches

[Onetimeonly]

Do you think he might hit a bit harder without gloves?

He's definitely going to break his hand.

[chucktaylor]

He's about the last pro I would have guessed is trying barenuckle. I thought he's had a lot hand injuries, contributing to his lack of power.
He's going to have better skills than most, but Barenuckle is different. You don't have as much blocking ability for starters.

[Luckybattles]

It’s misleading. I would rather get hit by a bare knuckle than those scary 8-10 oz rocks. The majority of trainers are doing some level of skinning and those gloves are so tight that fighter sometime struggle to put them on. People think gloves are designed to protect the head but they are actually to protect the hand.

[sturm vogel]

He's about the last pro I would have guessed is trying barenuckle. I thought he's had a lot hand injuries, contributing to his lack of power.
He's going to have better skills than most, but Barenuckle is different. You don't have as much blocking ability for starters.

Was thinking the same thing. He has twice the skill but half the hands.

[Enlightened-One]

Apart from having to contend with his age, having to lose weight, having poor fitness levels, as well as ring rust, Malignaggi’s fragile skin may prove to be problematic, because he’s previously suffered bad facial damage during several contests, as well as a handful of training camps.

However, I have watched a couple of televised bare-knuckle contests and I think the duration were typically five two-minute rounds. They seem much shorter than boxing title fights.

If this is the case, then Malignaggi might do reasonably well, assuming he’s able to overcome those obstacles that I’ve listed, because the few bare-knuckle fighters I have seen don’t appear to be particularly skilled.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Last month, former WBA welterweight boxing champion Paulie Malignaggi signed with Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship. The Showtime analyst is hoping to step into the ring against Conor McGregor teammate Artem Lobov, who is also signed to the promotion.

The pair recently came face-to-face at a Bare Knuckle media day this week. After exchanging some words, Malignaggi slapped Lobov before the two were quickly separated. Malignaggi yelled at “The Russian Hammer” that he gave him a “b*tch slap for a b*tch.” Check out the video here:

[Ruthless-RKO]

Malignaggi is looking to avenge his long-standing issues with the Conor McGregor camp. He was originally a part of the Irishman’s training camp back in 2017 for his fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. However, when McGregor leaked out footage from one of their sparring sessions, showing what looked like McGregor knocking the former champion down, Malignaggi left the camp.

He has since been lobbying for a fight against “The Notorious,” however, nothing has ever come to fruition. Perhaps Malignaggi is attempting to lure the former UFC “Champ Champ” out by defeating Lobov in a Bare Knuckle bout. McGregor already avenged Lobov’s honor once when he sparked a war with Khabib Nurmagomedov for slapping his training partner in Brooklyn.

McGregor actually chartered a private jet to the United States from Ireland and tossed a dolly through the fighter bus Khabib was in. Will history be repeating itself after Malignaggi’s slap on Lobov? Lobov makes his Bare Knuckle FC debut against fellow former UFC fighter Jason “The Kid” Knight on April 20.

What do you think about Malignaggi slapping Lobov?

[Onekrazyrican]

Malignaggi is looking to avenge his long-standing issues with the Conor McGregor camp. He was originally a part of the Irishman’s training camp back in 2017 for his fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. However, when McGregor leaked out footage from one of their sparring sessions, showing what looked like McGregor knocking the former champion down, Malignaggi left the camp.

He has since been lobbying for a fight against “The Notorious,” however, nothing has ever come to fruition. Perhaps Malignaggi is attempting to lure the former UFC “Champ Champ” out by defeating Lobov in a Bare Knuckle bout. McGregor already avenged Lobov’s honor once when he sparked a war with Khabib Nurmagomedov for slapping his training partner in Brooklyn.

McGregor actually chartered a private jet to the United States from Ireland and tossed a dolly through the fighter bus Khabib was in. Will history be repeating itself after Malignaggi’s slap on Lobov? Lobov makes his Bare Knuckle FC debut against fellow former UFC fighter Jason “The Kid” Knight on April 20.

What do you think about Malignaggi slapping Lobov?

Great stuff IMO. Have you ever thought what it would be like if you could have your current mindset in your high school days? Paulie is like an adult minded kid in a school yard. BKB's move is starting to pay off with all the attention this is getting. Not sure about how well this Lobov ppv will sell but it the slap will definitely add considerable amount of buys. Expect a great build up for a Paulie-Lobov fight right after Saturday. Connor is smart enough to see the potential. He will probably take over Paulies lead after a Palie-Lobov fight and we might see that one happen.

As for Paulies chances in bare knuckle i think his style is a great fit. You cant throw hard with bare knuckes or youll probably shatter your hand. He shouldnt have problems making raw fighters miss, and his hands are fast enough to do quick light flurries that while not turning lights off might still bust up some faces and make his points wins look more exiting than in boxing. Im really interested now...

[Enlightened-One]

Paulie’s slapping of Artem is staged WWE-style theatrics and nothing more.

The slap was very gentle and Malignaggi intentionally missed with his fake follow-up left hand that was thrown immediately afterwards. Paulie and Artem are both trying to sell the event.

Malignaggi trash-talked the likes of Thurman, Broner, Khan etc., but behind the scenes, we’ve seen Paulie being very cordial and friendly to these guys, as if they were best friends.

He even published a YouTube video explaining the art of trash-talking. He explained that combat sports is a business and fighters have to make money. They need to be noticed in order to make money and advance their careers.

Malignaggi has never been an exciting fighter with lots of knock-outs and he had to give people a reason to talk about him.

[Onekrazyrican]

Yes it is all staged. Gotta say its kindof obvious at this point. Hence the reference to his mindset being at work in favor of a developing promotion. Paulie is one of the smartest boxers in the game and its evidenced by his success as an analyst. He knows exactly how crowds react these days. Straight wins and losses, straight record merits are not enough anymore. If you dont believe it just look at how an exhibition fight between a retired pro vs a debuting fighter stole the thunder off a fight for the lineal middleweight title between two of the most successful boxers of recent years. Floyd and Connor are two of the best story tellers in the game. GGG and Canelo are not even close.

If people preferred the purity of the sport the numbers would have been different. An exhibition fight between a 49-0 and a 0-0 holds the record for second highest in PPV sales ever with 5,174,000 Canelo vs GGG did 1,300,000 a month later from what I see on wikipedia.

People want a reason to care about the fight beyond who wins and who loses. WWE antics are doing the trick right now.

[Ruthless-RKO]

[DrDuke]

Paulie is a gangster. Gotta have an easy pay-day out there. It'll be Mayweather style schooling of an amateur after retiring from pro-boxing. It's a bit different though, but I don't think, that bare knuckle format will affect the outcome much in this case.

[Nightmare Roy]

Wow ticket sales must be slow

[Onetimeonly]

Wow ticket sales must be slow

Why wouldn't they be. I can't imagine Paulie making more than he does commentating.

[jamamb]

paulies kinda a strange guy, i can see him getting caught with a tranny or something

[Onekrazyrican]

Wow ticket sales must be slow

I think more than tickets the strategy is to put the BK brand out there. Just like we saw Wilder's death threat make the rounds for weeks before the fight we will see Paulie doing the work on this guy. He will be carrying Lobov around because of his link with McGregor who might be waiting for his cue depending on what Paulie is able to build. If it makes sense (and the way this is going it seems like it might) we will be seeing more of it.

Sadly its become clear this is the kind of thing that gets people engaged. Likes, clicks and shares are the life of most pages. This is the kind of content that gets it.

[Thomastearns]

Great stuff IMO. Have you ever thought what it would be like if you could have your current mindset in your high school days? Paulie is like an adult minded kid in a school yard. BKB's move is starting to pay off with all the attention this is getting. Not sure about how well this Lobov ppv will sell but it the slap will definitely add considerable amount of buys. Expect a great build up for a Paulie-Lobov fight right after Saturday. Connor is smart enough to see the potential. He will probably take over Paulies lead after a Palie-Lobov fight and we might see that one happen.

As for Paulies chances in bare knuckle i think his style is a great fit. You cant throw hard with bare knuckes or youll probably shatter your hand. He shouldnt have problems making raw fighters miss, and his hands are fast enough to do quick light flurries that while not turning lights off might still bust up some faces and make his points wins look more exiting than in boxing. Im really interested now...

Me too. If bare knuckle goes wrong it really goes wrong. Messily wrong.

Still, if it gets us to Malignaggi v McGregor it will be worth it.

The fight itself will be probably be rubbish but just like Mayweather - McGregor, the trash talking could be more entertaining than the fight itself.

Paulie's one sharp dude - at least outside the ring.

[Bjl12]

paulies kinda a strange guy, i can see him getting caught with a tranny or something

Hah

All this is 100% for marketing in the same way Wilder saying he wants to kill somebody...Wilder is apparently a "good guy" in his community and has a child with special needs. No way he actually wants to kill someone. All marketing