What was Artem Lobov's UFC record and is he still friends with Conor McGregor?

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Conor McGregor (left), Artem Lobov (right) [Images courtesy of @rushammer on Instagram]

Conor McGregor's longtime friend, Artem Lobov, is now a retired MMA and bare-knuckle fighter. Until 2018, the Russian competed in the UFC featherweight division. However, 'The Russian Hammer' struggled at the elite level in MMA and won only two of his seven UFC outings.

Lobov won back-to-back bouts against Chris Avila and Teruto Ishihara in 2016 but ended his UFC career after losing three fights in a row.

Despite the Russian's difficult time in the UFC, he has always remained close friends with the biggest name in the sport, Conor McGregor. Lobov is almost just as famous for his connection with McGregor as he is for fighting, but 'The Russian Hammer' recently raised eyebrows after claims regarding his involvement in the Irishman's business.

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In an interview with talkSPORT – a snippet of which he uploaded to his Instagram account – Artem Lobov claimed to have come up with the idea of Proper No.12 Irish Whiskey, a brand that McGregor recently sold a majority share for $600 million.

While promoting his book, Lobov told talkSPORT that he turned down a large amount of money that Conor McGregor offered him and went on to say that he's never accepted any money from the Irishman:

"Conor offered me $1m but I turned it down, I didn’t accept it. You know, throughout my career whenever I have helped Conor with camps, he offered to pay me for them camps, but I never accepted money from him."

No amount of money, fame or success has seemingly been able to change Conor McGregor's relationship with the Russian. Artem Lobov has certainly shown his loyalty if the claims he made to talkSPORT are true, and it's likely McGregor will find a way to repay him in the future.

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Will Artem Lobov and Conor McGregor fight again?

Conor McGregor is still currently contracted to the UFC and Artem Lobov was competing in bare-knuckle boxing bouts before retiring. The Russian's final fight was against 16-0 pro boxer Denys Berinchyk. Lobov lost via TKO at the start of round five, after surviving a standing-count in round four during their main event bout in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Meanwhile, McGregor seems to be getting closer and closer to agreeing a rematch with Floyd 'Money' Mayweather. The two huge personalities made a lot of money in their first bout, selling the second-most pay-per-views in combat sports history.

Watch Artem Lobov in BKFC here:

In an interview with Fight Hype, Showtime president Stephen Espinoza expressed confidence in a potential rematch between McGregor and Mayweather being a huge success. However, he believes that the UFC might be the hardest part of the deal:

"I have no doubt that it would be a huge worldwide event but the question as usual is where are the UFC at on Conor's side?"

Watch the full interview here:

Dana White and the UFC co-promoted their first bout, but the UFC president hasn't been very complimentary of a second fight in recent weeks, which is why Espinoza is likely hesitant about the fight happening.

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