McGregor taunts Lobov after minor court win

It may not have been any kind of defining moment in Artem Lobov’s lawsuit against Conor McGregor over profits from his Proper 12 whiskey, but that’s not stopping the UFC superstar from having a field day on social media.

No one makes for a hated enemy quite like a longtime friend. For UFC superstar Conor McGregor, his relationship with longtime training partner Artem Lobov recently turned sour over proceeds from McGregor’s Proper 12 Whiskey business. In an upcoming tell-all memoir, Lobov claims that he was the brains behind McGregor’s decision to jump into the liquor industry—a move that apparently netted the SBG Ireland talent tens of millions of dollars.

Lobov is set to sue McGregor for 5% of the proceeds, which he says the ‘Notorious’ Irishman previously promised him. A move to fast track the case in Ireland’s ‘Commerical Court’—which handles serious financial disputes—has been declined, however, with the judge citing the court’s lack of resources and the Lobov’s delay in filing as reasons for declining the application. That’s according to a recent report from Independent.ie.

“Mr Lobov notes the judge’s ruling and thanks him for his consideration of the application,” Lobov’s lawyer, Dermot McNamara, said of the judges decision. “He is now looking forward to his case progressing in the High Court chancery list instead and hopes the proceedings can be determined as soon as possible.”

It’s hardly a major windfall for McGregor, since Lobov still has clear avenues to push forward with his lawsuit. But that didn’t stop the former two-division UFC champion from heading to social media to do a little crowing. His Tweets have since been deleted, but not before MMA Fighting captured the details.

McGregor’s attorney, who was on hand for the judges decision, filed their own affidavit with the Commerical Court, essentially accusing Lobov of pursuing the lawsuit and the spat between the two men in order to drum up publicity for his upcoming memoir.

“[Artem Lobov] sought and obtained publicity for his forthcoming book whilst at the same time trailing or hinting at the idea that there was substantially more to the story that would be revealed in due course,” attorney Michael Staines, said, acting on McGregor’s behalf. Adding that he felt it was clear Lobov was “seeking to leverage what he considered to be a newsworthy controversy between him and [McGregor] in order to seek publicity for a forthcoming book.”

Lobov was released from his UFC contract in 2018 following a string of losses to Cub Swanson, Andre Fili, and Michael Johnson. He made his debut as a bare-knuckle boxer the following year, going 2-2 from 2019 to 2021, before announcing his official retirement from combat sports.