ARTEM LOBOV HAS expressed his relief at finally securing his first win as a UFC fighter.
After dropping losses to Ryan Hall and Alex White in his first two outings in the octagon, Russian-born Lobov (12-12-1-1) bounced back with a much-needed victory tonight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Lobov’s unanimous-decision triumph against debutant Chris Avila (5-3) should be enough to secure his place on the roster. The 30-year-old Dublin-based fighter dominated the 23-year-old Californian on the UFC 202 prelims.
“This was a massive win for me,” Lobov told reporters afterwards. “A weight has certainly been lifted off my shoulders. I’m delighted to get this win and now the next step is to get that knockout. I’ll go back to what ‘The Russian Hammer’ does best: knocking people out. That’s the next milestone.”
It was a particularly satisfying win for Lobov and the SBG Ireland team. Avila was involved in an altercation which saw insults exchanged and bottles thrown after his team-mate Nate Diaz walked out of Wednesday’s UFC 202 press conference. Diaz will face Lobov’s sparring partner Conor McGregor in tonight’s main event.
“To be honest with you, until that incident with the bottles, I didn’t really give a shit,” said Lobov, when asked about the animosity between the two camps. “Whatever, I knew that we were going to fight so all this talk — what’s all this for? We’re going to fight. That’s it. There’s no need for talking. There’s no need for throwing bottles.
“But then once they did that I kind of felt like, ‘Fuck these guys, what is wrong with them?’ Throwing bottles at women? That’s just a ‘no no’ for me. It’s just, I find it hard to respect them outside of the octagon. Imagine somebody threw a bottle at your daughter, your mom, your girlfriend, how would you feel towards someone like that?”
Artem Lobov: 'I find it hard to respect them outside of the octagon'
– Paul Dollery reports from Las Vegas
ARTEM LOBOV HAS expressed his relief at finally securing his first win as a UFC fighter.
After dropping losses to Ryan Hall and Alex White in his first two outings in the octagon, Russian-born Lobov (12-12-1-1) bounced back with a much-needed victory tonight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Lobov’s unanimous-decision triumph against debutant Chris Avila (5-3) should be enough to secure his place on the roster. The 30-year-old Dublin-based fighter dominated the 23-year-old Californian on the UFC 202 prelims.
“This was a massive win for me,” Lobov told reporters afterwards. “A weight has certainly been lifted off my shoulders. I’m delighted to get this win and now the next step is to get that knockout. I’ll go back to what ‘The Russian Hammer’ does best: knocking people out. That’s the next milestone.”
It was a particularly satisfying win for Lobov and the SBG Ireland team. Avila was involved in an altercation which saw insults exchanged and bottles thrown after his team-mate Nate Diaz walked out of Wednesday’s UFC 202 press conference. Diaz will face Lobov’s sparring partner Conor McGregor in tonight’s main event.
“To be honest with you, until that incident with the bottles, I didn’t really give a shit,” said Lobov, when asked about the animosity between the two camps. “Whatever, I knew that we were going to fight so all this talk — what’s all this for? We’re going to fight. That’s it. There’s no need for talking. There’s no need for throwing bottles.
“But then once they did that I kind of felt like, ‘Fuck these guys, what is wrong with them?’ Throwing bottles at women? That’s just a ‘no no’ for me. It’s just, I find it hard to respect them outside of the octagon. Imagine somebody threw a bottle at your daughter, your mom, your girlfriend, how would you feel towards someone like that?”
Video: Submission Radio
First blood to Team McGregor as Lobov dominates Diaz’s team-mate Avila
All the results from tonight’s UFC 202: Diaz v McGregor card
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