Artem Lobov leaves Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship and returns to MMA

After a three-fight stint in Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, Artem Lobov is returning to the world of MMA. He's not the first to come back, as Bec Rawlings went from UFC to BKFC and is now with Bellator.

Artem Lobov's UFC run was just seven fights and all of them finished via unanimous decisions. Lobov was 2-5 in that stretch and lost his last three fights. The last one was to Michael Johnson way back at UFC Fight Night 138 in October of 2018.

In his run for Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, Artem Lobov went 2-1 and looked pretty good as well. He went 1-1 in two wars with fellow former UFC fighter Jason Knight. They book ended his win over former boxing champion Paulie Malignaggi as well.

The 34-year-old SBG Ireland teammate of Conor McGregor has signed on with Arena Fight Championship. Artem Lobov already has a fight booked as well. He will face Ylies Drijoun at Lightweight in Marseille, France on 12th December. With a 13-15-1 and 1 no contest record, Artem Lobov will be looking to get back to the .500 mark.

Not that this will or could draw a massive crowd, but it's a continued sign by the French government to now be all in on MMA. The government last week gave clearance to Bellator to be the first major organization to put on a show as they have finally legalized the sport in the country.

After signing the one fight deal with the organization, Artem Lobov told Ariel Helwani that he'd also like to get a professional boxing fight under his belt sometime in 2021. It was Artem Lobov's run in with Khabib Nurmagomedov at the Downtown Brooklyn Marriott that led to the infamous dolly incident involving McGregor.

Ylies is a serious prospect in France, and there will now be a lot of eyes watching him. He's 28 years old and has nine submission wins to his name with a 17-6 overall record.