Yesterday afternoon, on the undercard of UFC Fight Night 115 in Rotterdam, Russian featherweight prospect Zabit Magomedsharipov dazzled by thrashing Mike Santiago to a second-round rear-naked choke. With this win, Magomedsharipov immediately established himself as one of the finest contenders in the featherweight division, and post-fight, he looked to capitalize on this status with a clever callout of Conor McGregor stablemate Artem Lobov.

“This journey has been amazing,” Magomedsharipov said post-fight. “I had a big lay off, I haven’t fought in about a year so I was hungry for the fight,” he said. “I was expecting to go three rounds, just to feel the fight out but I had a chance to finish him in the second so I took it. It was perfect.”

“I want to fight Artem Lobov next. He’s been talking a load of s—t in the media and he pretends to be some great fighter but he is not, so I want to prove I can beat him. I would beat him hard.”

Artem Lobov, of course, is currently scheduled for a UFC Fight Night 118 scrap with Team Alpha Male’s Andre Fili. Apparently, however, he’s not opposed to a quick turnaround for a scrap with Magomedsharipov. Shortly after being called out “The Russian Hammer” Lobov responded on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/RusHammerMMA/status/904023618774032384

“Stay in shape kid, if Fili doesnt show up you can get destroyed instead,” he said. “Otherwise see you in November.”

When we last saw Artem Lobov in the cage, he came up short against Cub Swanson, putting up a valiant fight in a contest where he was supposed to be dominated.

Are you interested in a fight between Artem Lobov and Zabit Magomedsharipov, or would you prefer to see the surging UFC Rotterdam contender fight somebody else?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 9/3/2017.