Paulie Malignaggi hocks loogie on (mural of) Conor McGregor ahead of Artem Lobov bare knuckle fight

Paulie Malignaggi has a dance date with Artem Lobov this summer, but that doesn’t mean he’s stopped thinking about Lobov’s most famous teammate.

Malignaggi posted a video to his Instagram account Tuesday afternoon showing him walking past a giant mural of Conor McGregor on the side of O’Brien’s Irish Pub in Santa Monica, Calif. And when the person filming the video asks Malignaggi what he thinks of the guy on the mural, Malignaggi turns and spits on it while walking past.

The Instagram caption with the video takes aim at both McGregor and Lobov: “(Expletive) the other side @thenotoriousmma @rushammer”

Malignaggi has beef with Conor McGregor that goes back to Malignaggi’s brief time training with him ahead of McGregor’s boxing match with Floyd Mayweather. Malignaggi has wanted a boxing match with McGregor because of that, but since that probably won’t come to fruition, he instead has a fight with Lobov, instead. Malignaggi was around Lobov while McGregor was preparing for Mayweather in Las Vegas, but has said they never directly worked together.

Malignaggi and Lobov will be part of the next Bare Knuckle FC event June 22 in New Hampshire. Lobov made his BKFC debut in April and won a brutal and bloody war against fellow UFC veteran Jason Knight.

The two got face to face in New York in April at a news conference, which turned physical and nearly set off a brawl.

Malignaggi went 36-8 as a pro boxer. He retired in March 2017 after a loss in his final bout and has done commentary work in boxing. But he said the lure of a big payday was worth coming on board for a BKFC fight with Lobov.

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