UFC featherweight Artem Lobov has been gearing up for his upcoming main event scrap with Cub Swanson in April, where he will face the biggest test of his professional MMA career as he looks to crack the featherweight top 10.

Ahead of the fight, Lobov has generated quite a bit of controversy as he has called out fighters with padded records for being “pussies”. He then took aim at UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo for accepting the featherweight title after Conor McGregor vacated the belt to serve as the UFC lightweight champion.

Lobov spoke on Submission Radio:

“I’ll tell you one thing about Jose Aldo, if I was in his position I would have never accepted that belt,” Lobov told Submission Radio. “What? So they took the belt from the guy that knocked him out in 13 seconds. They took it off that guy and they handed him that belt and he just takes it and he’s happy and smiling on his face?

“Like, what kind of pussy do you have to be to take that? No way in hell would I ever accept that belt. I would say, ‘give me that guy again. I want to fight him, and if he’s not in the division anymore, well then f—k that, I don’t want that belt. Let the other two fight for the belt and then I’ll fight the winner and I’ll earn that belt’. Because now he’s holding a belt that Conor got off him in 13 seconds and he’ll never be able to get rid of that stain,” he continued.

“Even if he beats now Max Holloway, he’ll still be holding that same belt. So how are you as a man, as a fighter that respects himself, accept that belt? I would have never done it in my life. I don’t know why he f—king done it.”

Expect Aldo to respond shortly.

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 3/24/2017.