he wrote Monday on social media<\/a>, alongside a poster for his return match with Zubaira Tukhugov. \u201cTime to get revenge.\u201d<\/p>\nLobov had turned down offers to fight before, he says. He wasn\u2019t interested unless the purse was big or the opponent was right. But PFL executive Mike Kogan had that opponent ready for him, and so they agreed to a swift, one-fight deal. Lobov will fight Tukhogov in Dubai at a PFL event on Oct. 3.<\/p>\n
Their history runs back to 2018, when former UFC lightweight champion and fierce McGregor rival Khabib Nurmagomedov confronted Lobov over comments he made while defending McGregor. \u201cIf somebody called your friend a chicken in Russia, it\u2019s more severe \u2026 you\u2019d respond,\u201d Lobov says.<\/p>\n
It escalated when Nurmagomedov confronted Lobov a second time \u2014 this time with \u201ca gang of people.\u201d Tukhogov was there, backing Nurmagomedov up, screaming, \u201cLet\u2019s go, one-on-one,\u201d Lobov says. The UFC almost booked a bout between Lobov and Tukhogov, but canceled those plans after the Nurmagomedov vs. McGregor feud exploded into one of the most volatile in UFC history.<\/p>\n
![\"BELFAST,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1971aef0-727b-11f0-9fbe-f513a3e9ac04.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n
Artem Lobov and Conor McGregor were close friends during their UFC rises.<\/p>\n
(Brandon Magnus via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Lobov says Tukhogov has \u201cnever looked that brave\u201d in the cage, accusing him of relying on wrestling and \u201ctapping out\u201d under pressure. Outside the cage, though, Lobov points to his opponent\u2019s powerful connections in Russia \u2014 alleged ties to controversial Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov \u2014 which make a street fight a foolish proposition to accept. \u201cWho wants that? Let\u2019s do it like real men, one-on-one \u2026 let\u2019s get in the cage and settle it like professional fighters,\u201d Lobov says.<\/p>\n
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Seven years later, they will.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Lobov\u2019s old friend McGregor has his own fights ahead of him. He\u2019s teased a political run in Ireland \u2014 something Lobov thinks should be postponed. \u201cHe needs to stop messing [around], get back into the gym, and get fit,\u201d Lobov says. \u201cThe way forward is grappling. Just grapple. It\u2019s fun, it\u2019ll get your body ready for fighting again. He needs his mojo back.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s hard to imagine McGregor taking Lobov\u2019s advice, as he\u2019s recently called Lobov a \u201crat.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a different Conor,” Lobov says. “I don\u2019t even recognize him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, Lobov believes if McGregor rededicates himself, it won\u2019t be long before he books the rematch he\u2019s craved since 2018. If McGregor returns to the UFC and secures himself a knockout win, then Lobov is convinced it would lure Nurmagomedov back to the sport too. \u201cKhabib would come back for that fight,\u201d Lobov says. \u201cThe whole world would be talking about [their rematch]. That would be a comeback fight for the ages.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though Lobov is resigned to the change in McGregor, he appears to still hope that he changes back.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to see the old Conor back,\u201d Lobov says. \u201cThen, everything will be sweet between us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Artem Lobov delivered a surprising message for Conor McGregor on Tuesday despite their ongoing multimillion-dollar whiskey war. Lobov…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":47122,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[40369,64,63,4736,786,785,85],"class_list":["post-47121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-artem-lobov","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-conor-mcgregor","tag-fighting","tag-mma","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}