After a fairly decisive defeat of the dangerous Teruto Ishihara at UFC Fight Night 99, Conor McGregor training partner Artem Lobov is looking for a massive step up in competition. The Russian-born Irishman is now chasing fights with elite foes in Cub Swanson and “The Korean Superboy” Doo Ho Choi, who recently engaged in arguably the best fight of the year against each other.
Lobov explained this desire in a recent interview with Peter Carroll of SevereMMA.com.
“Really I’m leaving it up to UFC to decide my next opponent,” he told Carroll. “Sean Shelby is the matchmaker, that’s what he’s good at. He’s been doing this for many years and he gave me a good matchup for my last fight. I even told him how grateful I was for him putting that fight together after it.”
“I think he’ll give me an exciting matchup, but I’m ready for everyone. I wanted Mirsad Bektic, but I saw recently that he has been matched for UFC 209, so it’s not going to be him.”
advertisement – continue reading below“Cub Swanson or ‘The Korean Superboy’ would be a really good fight. Their last fight was great and I really think I match up well against either of those guys. I really think that would be a good one.”
“With Cub especially, I think that would be a very big fight for London. I think the fans would like to see me in there with ‘The Korean Superboy’ in London as well.”
While Lobov explained that these are the fights he wants, he also expressed his feeling that many members of the UFC roster do not actually want to fight.
“I’ve always prided myself on fighting anyone, and back when I was on the European scene I thought that everyone in the UFC was the same way,” he said.
“Now that I’m in the UFC and I’m watching all the greatest fighters in the world compete, I’m quickly beginning to realize that there are not that many guys that want to fight.
“Everyone wants the money, everyone wants a good life, but they don’t want to fight. You see it often when a guy gets a win. You don’t see them for a while because they want to ride the wave of the win and not think about fighting.
“I’m not like that at all. I love fighting, I got into the sport because I love fighting and I want to do it as often as I can.”
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