UFC fighter Artem Lobov is a friend and training partner of the UFC Lightweight Champion in Conor McGregor.
When it comes to McGregor’s latest rival in Paulie Malignaggi, the friend of the lightweight champion wants to box the ears off of the retired boxer.
“Let’s be honest, it’s very simple, there were three sparring partners — me, Tiernan (Bradley) and Dashon (Johnson),” Lobov told MMA Fighting. “I had an interview with Ariel Helwani where I called Paulie a diva. Tiernan had another interview where he gave him a little bit of stick too. Guess what? Paulie decides to talk bad about me and Tiernan and say nothing about Dashon. Why? Dashon is the only that didn’t give interviews about him or say anything about the incident. It’s clearly emotional from him. He’s trying to get back at me and Tiernan, but it’s no big deal to me. If he wants to fight, I’m down to fight. I’ll box the ears off him, no problem.”
Malignaggi started speaking out against the UFC fighter in McGregor after the lightweight champion camp released a photo of McGregor apparently knocking the retired boxer down.
Lobov also believes that Malignaggi just cannot admit that he was outclassed by the UFC Lightweight Champion.
“Paulie doesn’t want to admit that now, because it’s not cool yet, Conor is seen as the amateur in the boxing world. I think when Conor beats Mayweather, suddenly Paulie will come out and he will admit that he was spanked because it will be seen as normal. Now, he just can’t accept that this newcomer absolutely destroyed him in the ring when he was a two-time world champion,” says Lobov.
Conor McGregor versus Floyd Mayweather takes place on Saturday, August 26 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.
