Conor McGregor’s former friend and teammate, Artem Lobov, is spilling the tea on the Irish sports star’s mindset leading into his ill-fated fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov.
McGregor became the first simultaneous double champ in UFC history back in 2016, only to leave the sport for two years on a quest to box Floyd Mayweather Jr.. That fight earned him more than $100 million, a life-changing payday that may have ended McGregor’s days as a serious mixed martial artist.
According to Lobov, when McGregor returned to fight Khabib in 2018, he was in a “party mindset.”
“I know that fight bothers Conor because he didn’t train at all for that fight,” Lobov told Ariel Helwani. “Twice a week he was training for Khabib. I tried to get him to [Las Vegas] and said ‘We have to do this,’ and he told me to f–k off. He just didn’t want to do it.
“He was in the wrong mindset, the party mindset,” Lobov added. “Training twice a week and that’s it. So when I saw the fight, I was like ‘Oh my god, if only you trained four times a week, you probably would’ve beaten him. Imagine him in a full camp. The Conor that fought Eddie Alvarez, imagine that Conor fighting Khabib. That’s what I want to see.”
Lobov is currently suing McGregor to get what he believes is his fair share of McGregor’s half a billion dollars made off Proper 12 whiskey — a product Lobov says he claims wouldn’t exist without his business know-how. Despite the strife in their relationship, he’s still interested in seeing McGregor return and do well in the Octagon.
“I would love to see him come back,” Lobov said. “Because I feel that if he was at 100 percent, we would be able to bring Khabib back as well.”
Lobov is set to step out of retirement and fight Zubaira Tukhogov at a PFL event in Oct. 2024. His legal case against McGregor is still awaiting a trial date.
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