Paulie Malignaggi takes on former UFC fighter Artem Lobov on June 22nd in Tampa, Florida.
The former world champion has stated he wants to put Lobov in a coma, and urinate on him.
After a lively press conference in which Malignaggi spat on Lobov, he explained why he has so much disdain not only for Lobov but for the whole MMA community.
“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.”It seems weird to essentially boast that boxing is more dangerous and more people have been killed in the ring.
Malignaggi then moves on to talk about his favourite subject, Conor McGregor.Malignaggi had been called in to help Conor McGregor train for the Floyd Mayweather fight only for sparring footage to be leaked. Malignaggi has been on a one-man crusade ever since against the Irishman.
“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.”
McGregor has tapped out twice in his last four fights. It also seems Malignaggi has overlooked all the knockouts that also happen in MMA to focus on the tap outs that happen. In essence, MMA and boxing are two different sports with some similar aspects, so unfair to compare.
“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.”
It would seem Malignaggi is emotionally invested in this fight. The fact he can’t get retribution against McGregor seems to be driving him crazy.
He has a chance to take on McGregor’s training partner on June 22nd on BKFC 6
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