Artem Lobov je poreklom iz Rusije ali veći deo života živi u Irskoj gde trenira sa Conorom McGregorom u SBG-u. On je prokomentarisao kakava je situaciju u Rusiji kada dođe do MMA i izjavio da ima osećaj kao da sport tamo stalno raste i da postoji veliko interesovanje za MMA u Rusiji. 

Priča se da McGregor želi borbu sa ruskom MMA zvezdom Khabibom Nurmagomedovim u Rusiji nakon borbe sa Floydom Mayweatherom koja će se održati u subotu. Artem je prokomentraisao za MMAFighting da misli da je Khabib velika zvezda u Rusiji zbog Conora McGregora.




“It would be very hard to say who would be the bigger draw in Russia between Khabib and Conor. I honestly feel that Khabib is as big as he is in Russia because of Conor McGregor. As I said, Conor is the guy who has made MMA a hot topic in Russia. More and more Russians started watching the UFC when Conor came along. The more they watched, the more they understood it. Then, all of a sudden you get this Russian guy coming along and of course the Russian people put their support behind him”

Takođe izjavio da neki rusi baš i ne vole Khabiba zbog toga što je otkazao svoju poslednju borbu u poslednji čas:

“A lot of people in Russian aren’t happy with how Khabib has been behaving with all of his pullouts. This isn’t a very manly thing to do, not showing up for a fight. In Russia, the people have been brought up tough. It used to be the Soviet Union. The thing everybody thinks of when they think about Russia is how tough the people are.”