MMA News: Artem Lobov claims he is making much more money than he used to at UFC
'The Russian Hammer' Artem Lobov will remain forever grateful to the UFC for giving him the opportunity to make a name for himself in the world of combat sports, but he does not regret parting ways with the promotion because he is currently making enough money staying out of it.
Lobov signed with Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship after leaving the UFC and since then, he didn't have to look back. His first fight was a barn-burner against Jason Knight which ended in a victory for Lobov and also set him up for a rematch with Knight.
His second fight though was the one that grabbed a lot of eyeballs. Lobov fought former boxer Paulie Malignaggi in a grudge match that started with Malignaggi talking trash about Lobov's dear friend and a former two-division world champion at the UFC, Conor McGregor. When the pair finally squared off, Lobov had the last laugh, beating Malignaggi via unanimous decision.
Lobov is currently earning more than 90-95% guys on the UFC roster
As he heads into his rematch with Knight, the Russian Hammer spoke about the fact that he now gets paid more than 90-95% of the fighters at the UFC.
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m very thankful for UFC. The reason why I’m getting all these offers is in large part because I was a UFC fighter and that’s where I made my name. Having said that, of course everybody wants to be champion, yes that’s good to be in the UFC but the thing is we all have families, we all have mouths to feed and we all need to provide. I’m able to do it a lot better outside the UFC than when I was in it."
“I watch the pay disclosures after every card in the UFC and normally there’s one guy on the card who gets paid more than me. If there’s a big, huge card maybe there’s three or four. So I get paid more than 90 or 95 percent of the UFC fighters so I’m happy I’m in the position that I’m in.” (MMA Fighting)
Lobov further stated that he is looking to finish his opponent Knight this time around. People raised questions about Lobov's win over Knight in their back and forth encounter but this time, the Russian Hammer wants to finish the debate once and for all and prove that he is the boss of bare-knuckle fighting.
“To me, I think this time I really want to make it clear. I want to stop him,” Lobov said. “I feel I can. I dropped him a few times in that fight. I feel I was maybe a little too reckless and I blew my load a bit too soon. That was also my first bare-knuckle fight. I didn’t really know what to expect. But I think this time if I approach it a little bit more methodically, a little bit more technically, I can put this guy away. Then that will be clear. There will be no more questions.”