Artem Lobov, the uber-popular Russian fighter, has decided to walk away from the sport it was announced on Friday morning.
Ariel Helwani reported that ‘The Russian Hammer’ had confirmed to him that he was done with fighting but stopped short of providing a reason for his retirement.
The 34-year-old veteran lost a bare-knuckle bout to Denys Berinchyk last weekend in Kyiv, Ukraine.
In the immediate aftermath of that defeat, Lobov hinted he was done with fighting.
“It’s true, time to close the career,” Lobov has since said in a statement to MMA Fighting provided by Parimatch. “There’s plenty other options and suggestions to prolong my path, but not fighting.
“In order to succeed, you have to say goodbye and concentrate on other things. Of course, I’ll be with Mahatch and the Parimatch team. All my sponsors are already family for me. I feel this support indeed. So I won’t say goodbye from all fighting activities, but I need to finish my career as a fighter.”
Lobov walks away from fighting with a 13-15-1 (1 NC) MMA record and a 2-2 Bare Knuckle record.
Lobov made his MMA debut in November 2010 and eventually made his way as a teammate of Conor McGregor, making his UFC debut in December 2015, losing to Ryan Hall. Lobov eventually made noise by defeating Chris Avila at UFC 202.
The biggest win of Lobov’s career was a unanimous decision victory against Paulie Malignaggi at Bare Knuckle FC 9 in June 2019 in what was a heated buildup to the bout. The bout came after Malignaggi feuded with McGregor in the lead-up to the Mayweather-McGregor boxing bout.
Everyone at LowKickMMA wishes Artem Lobov a happy retirement.