Paulie Malignaggi is making his return to the ring, however he’s protecting the gloves off.
On Tuesday, the 44-year-old former boxing champion formally inked a three-fight deal to compete for BKB Naked Knuckle boxing together with his debut anticipated on Sept. 6 in Bristol, England.
His first struggle with BKB really marks his second try at bare-knuckle preventing after he signed with BKFC and confronted UFC veteran Artem Lobov in a dropping effort again in 2019. That struggle was really one of the talked about matchups of the 12 months due to Malignaggi getting right into a heated dispute with UFC famous person Conor McGregor over a sparring session they shared previous to McGregor’s boxing match with Floyd Mayweather.
The dangerous blood between these two boiled over however with McGregor signed to the UFC, he couldn’t enterprise out to take a struggle with a unique promotion so Lobov stepped as much as the plate. Lobov gained the struggle by unanimous determination, however then he had his personal falling out with McGregor, and the now former buddies are literally locked up in a lawsuit battle in Eire.
As for Malignaggi, he’ll try to show again the clock when he fights for the primary time in almost 4 years when he debuts for BKB in September.
“I may simply use my place to leap proper again right into a title struggle. However you realize what? That’s not what I’m going to do,” Malignaggi mentioned about becoming a member of BKB in a press launch. “I respect the fighters an excessive amount of. Right here at BKB, there’s actually good contenders within the tremendous welterweight division.
“I do know that I when this announcement will get round to the contenders, they’re all going to need a piece of me. I wish to struggle a kind of high contenders and earn my spot. I don’t wish to soar the road. I nonetheless acquired what acquired the products and I’m chasing that title.”
Previous to signing to BKB as a fighter, Malignaggi really served as one of many lead commentators on broadcasts for the promotion. Now, he’ll struggle there with hopes of getting his first skilled win since 2016.
