bare knuckle boxing

Thomas Taylor - June 23, 2019

On Saturday night, in the co-main event of BKFC 6 in Tampa, Florida, UFC veteran Chris Leben stepped into the ring for his third bare knuckle bout. His opponent this time around was Ultimate Fighter veteran Dakota Cochrane, who was riding high on a knockout win over former UFC welterweight champion Johny Hendricks. While Leben put forth a valiant effort in this fight, he ultimately lost a decision to Cochrane. As it turns out, he also sustained some of the hardest punches he’s ever felt in his long and illustrious career — perhaps even the hardest outright.

Tom Taylor - June 23, 2019

Artem Lobov and Paulie Malignaggi entered the BKFC 6 ring as two of the most heated rivals in combat sports. As is so often the case, however, the pair seem to have much more favorable views of each other after strafing one another for five rounds. Speaking at the BKFC 6 post-fight press conference, Lobov stated that he respects the former boxer Malignaggi for showing up to his infamous sparring session with Conor McGregor, and to this bare knuckle scrap.

Tom Taylor - June 23, 2019

Artem Lobov and Paulie Malignaggi, who met in the main event of BKFC 6 on Saturday night, seem to have found something they agree on: the officiating for the Tampa, Florida card left a lot to be desired. Speaking at the BKFC 6 post-fight press conference, Malignaggi sounded off on the ring-side judges, lambasting them for scoring the fight in Lobov’s favor.

Tom Taylor - June 23, 2019

On Saturday night, in the main event of BKFC 6, Paulie Malignaggi and Artem Lobov finally stepped into the ring together to settle one of the most high-profile beefs in combat sports. At the end of five closely contested rounds, Lobov was named the winner of this fight by decision, leaving Malignaggi questioning the judges’ competency. While Malignaggi does not believe he lost this fight, he did admit that, after scrapping sans gloves for 10 minutes, he does have a degree of respect for Lobov — respect that seemed unthinkable before the fight.

Christopher Taylor - June 22, 2019

John Kavanagh was not in attendance to witness his pupil Artem Lobov defeat Paulie Malignaggi at BKFC 6, but he was watching. The SBG Ireland Head Coach took to Twitter shortly following Lobov’s massive upset over Malignaggi where he shared the following post.

Chris Taylor - June 22, 2019

A highly anticipated grudge match between bitter rivals Paulie Malignaggi and Artem Lobov headlined tonight’s BKFC 6 event in Tampa Bay. Malignaggi (36-8 boxing) was making his Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship debut at tonight’s event.

Chris Taylor - June 22, 2019

A fight between bitter rivals Paulie Malignaggi and Artem Lobov headlined tonight’s BKFC 6 event in Tampa Bay, Florida. The former boxing champion, Malignaggi (36-8 boxing), returns to action for the first time since March of 2017, where he suffered a TKO loss to Sam Eggington in his bid to capture the WBC International Welterweight Title.

Christopher Taylor - June 22, 2019

A fight between Chris Leben and Dakota Cochrane served as the co-headliner of tonight’s BKFC 6 event in Tampa Bay. Chris Leben (22-11 MMA, 2-0 BKF) was most recently seen in action at April’s Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship 5 event, where he scored a first round knockout victory over Justin Baesman.

Chris Taylor - June 22, 2019

The wait is finally over, as tonight bitter rivals Paulie Malignaggi and Artem Lobov will square off in the headliner of BKFC 6. The ten-bout fight card will be available on pay-per-view on all major cable and satellite providers, as well as on all streaming devices and FITE.tv, at a price of $39.99USD.

Tom Taylor - June 21, 2019

On Saturday night, Paulie Malignaggi and Artem Lobov will finally get the chance to settle their score. The pair will meet in the main event of BKFC 6, which kicks off at 9:00pm ET in Tampa, Florida This 10-fight card will be available on pay-per-view on all major cable and satellite providers, as well as on all streaming devices and FITE.tv, at a price of $39.99USD.

Tom Taylor - June 21, 2019

We’re now just a little over 24 hours out from Artem Lobov and Paulie Malignaggi’s anticipated bare knuckle grudge match, which will headline BKFC 6 in Tampa, Florida, this Saturday night. In this eleventh hour, both men have found chances to squeeze in final bits of pre-fight trash talk. “No one respects this guy,” Lobov said at Thursday’s BKFC 6 press conference (via MMA Junkie). “How could you respect this guy? I guarantee you his own parents are watching him at home going, ‘Where did it all go wrong? How did we not bring this guy up the right way? What is wrong with our son?’ I guarantee it happens like this. And they’re asking the same question: ‘Son, what is wrong with you? Seriously, look at what you’re doing.’

Tom Taylor - June 20, 2019

BKFC President Dave Feldman has apparently invited former two-division UFC champ Conor McGregor to BKFC 6 in Tampa to watch his good friend Artem Lobov battle his nemesis Paulie Malignaggi. While Feldman has not yet gotten confirmation from McGregor’s camp, he’s confident the Irishman could be in attendance. “They won’t give confirmation yet but if I’m a betting man, I’m betting he’s coming,” Feldman told MMA Fighting. “They’re not going to give confirmation and if they are, they’re not going to tell us so we put it out there ‘hey Conor McGregor’s coming to the fight’ and then he’s mobbed. So it’s not going to happen like that but from the conversations I’m having, if I was going to bet on it, he’ll be there but who knows.”

Cole Shelton - June 19, 2019

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.

Tom Taylor - June 17, 2019

This weekend, in the main event of BKFC 6 in Tampa, Florida, former boxing champ Paulie Malignaggi will meet UFC veteran Artem Lobov in bare knuckle fight. Given his accolades in the boxing arena, Malignaggi is expecting an easy night of work against his foe. And he’s thanking the “f**king stupid” MMA fans that support Lobov for helping to set this easy night of work up for him.

Tom Taylor - May 31, 2019

Paulie Malignaggi and Artem Lobov recently got some face time in at the BKFC 6 press conference, and as expected, there was a lot of trash talk. Most of the trash talk came from the former boxer Malignaggi, who threatened to spit on and even urinate on the Russian MMA veteran Lobov. In fact, he actually did spit at Lobov during their customary face-off.

Tom Taylor - May 30, 2019

Earlier this week, former UFC welterweight champion Johny Hendricks — one of many fighters not to be paid by World Bare Knuckle Fighting Federation (WBKFF) last fall — implied that former WBKFF president Bas Rutten likely knew something about the promotion’s dicey finances.  “Dude, why didn’t you tell us? He had to have known something,” Hendricks told Bloody Elbow‘s Pull No Punches podcast recently (transcript via MMA News). “He had to have. Was he sitting here thinking along the same line as that guy… Why hasn’t he said anything? It sucks, the whole aspect of it.”

Natasha Hooper - May 23, 2019

Dan Hardy has jumped to the defence of the MMA community after some incendiary comments from Paulie Malignaggi. The professional boxer and commentator Malignaggi made headlines recently after claiming that the MMA community misrepresents the sport of boxing. Following Monday’s BKFC 6 press conference, Malignaggi said to FightHype.com that there is a common misconception that MMA is the more dangerous sport of the two, and that he finds this frustrating.

Tom Taylor - May 23, 2019

There has been much debate about the infamous sparring session between Conor McGregor and Paulie Malignaggi, mostly surrounding what actually happened when the two stars were in the ring together. McGregor claims to have dominated the former boxer. Malignaggi, on the other hand, has assured McGregor’s claims are bogus.