Conor McGregor UFC news: Paulie Malignaggi slaps the former teammate of Notorious, Artem Lobov

Paulie Malignaggi slapped Artem Lobov as the couple's bare-knuckle rivalry reached its boiling point.

The two men have both signed with the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship and are participating in a clash for a summer showdown.

Lobov must first beat Jason Knight on Saturday – but the seeds were sown at a media day on Tuesday.

While Malignaggi and Lobov – a former teammate of Conor McGregor – clashed, the former world champion boxer slapped the former UFC star.

He then promised to send him home in a body bag if the two faced each other in the ring.

Malignaggi said: "Do not threaten me here, next time it will be a real slap, it was a b **** slap for a b ****.

"Do not make fun of me and make threats here because I'm going to bad you, next time I'll hit you for real.

"You're a wise brother, I'll put you in a mortuary bag in June … I'll kill you."

Lobov, who has won two of his seven fights at the UFC, said, "I'm a real fighter and I'm going to fight Paulie, I want to make money for that." He knows I If you're a real fighter, let's fight in the ring.

"Let's be honest, Paulie does not want to beat me on the street because he knows I'm going to rip him up in seconds, but I want to prove myself in the boxing ring, which is why I'm doing this. Paulie safe until the day I can finally put his hand.

"That's the only chance he has to shoot me, and when we fight he will not give me a hand, I guarantee you."

"I'm here to fight on Saturday night, I'm a real fighter, no one will stop me, I do not care what Paulie can do to me."

"Paulie has always been the fight I wanted. This is the night of the night for Jason Knight this Saturday, then it's Paulie's turn. This is the only fight I want. He deserves to be slapped.

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