Artem Lobov reacts after being slapped by Paulie Malignaggi

UFC veteran Artem Lobov is set to make his Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship debut later this month when he takes on Jason Knight.

Although the focus is on Knight, Lobov already has his second fight in the works. It has been reported that ‘The Russian Hammer’ will fight former boxing champ, Paulie Malignaggi later this summer, this if he proves victorious against Knight this weekend.

Paulie and Artem have exchanged verbal shots on social media in the past, but their rivalry turned physical at today’s BKFC media day, where Malignaggi slapped Lobov after a confrontation.

From there, Malignaggi started yelling threats at Lobov.

“Don’t get in my face and make threats here,” he says. “I got in your face to promote. Don’t get in my face and make threats here cause I’ll f**k you up here.”

“I’m going to put you in a body bag,” he continues. “I’m going to make sure I kill you in June. You’re going to end up in a cemetery. You disrespect boxing, you piece of shit? After all the fighters that have been hurt?”

“I’m going to f***ing kill you. I’m going to kill you.”

Most recently, Lobov responded to the both the slap and the threats made by Paulie Malignaggi in a statement on Twitter.

“I am told you got a sly cheap shit in, I thought that was a mosquito! You know you get killed in a minute if the people werent there. You will be paying with your broken jaw!,” Lobov wrote on Twitter.have had a rivalry dating back to when Conor McGregor trained with Paulie in the lead up to his fight with Floyd Mayweather fight. Since then, Malignaggi has been calling for a fight with McGregor, but seems content to settle for a fight with ‘The Russian Hammer.’

Paulie and Artem have been at each others throats ever since Malignaggi served as a sparring partner for Conor McGregor in the lead up to the Irish stars infamous boxing match with Floyd Mayweather.

For a grudge match between Paulie and Artem to come to fruition, Lobov will first need to win his fight against fellow UFC veteran Jason Knight on Saturday evening.

Do you think Artem Lobov and Paulie Malignaggi will settle their differences inside the BKFC cage? Sound off in the comment section, PENN Nation!

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 4/2/2019.