Now that he’s gone 2-4 in his last six outings, Artem Lobov is ready to accept a potential release from the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Lobov competed last month against Andre Fili. “The Russian Hammer” lost the fight via un…
Now that he’s gone 2-4 in his last six outings, Artem Lobov is ready to accept a potential release from the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Lobov competed last month against Andre Fili. “The Russian Hammer” lost the fight via unanimous decision. It was Lobov’s second straight defeat. He hasn’t emerged victorious since Nov. 2016. Speaking […]
UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor apologized this week for his use of a homophobic slur backstage at a recent UFC event.
During an appearance on RTE One’s The Late Late Show, McGregor said he used the word in the heat of the moment while con…
UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor apologized this week for his use of a homophobic slur backstage at a recent UFC event.
During an appearance on RTE One’s The Late Late Show, McGregor said he used the word in the heat of the moment while consoling teammate Artem Lobov following Lobov’s loss to Andre Fili at UFC Fight Night 118 on Oct. 21.
“I witnessed him lose a … potential career-ending fight in a manner where the opponent was stalling and running away and I was upset,” McGregor said. “I was whispering in his ear and speaking on that and I said what I said. I meant no disrespect to … [anybody in the] LGBT community.”
Soon after the fight card from Gdansk, Poland—which aired exclusively on the UFC’s digital streaming service—a video emerged of McGregor and Lobov walking backstage after the fight. McGregor leaned close to his ear and repeatedly used the slur during a conversation he apparently thought wouldn’t be overheard.
“I thought you were going to sleep him,” McGregor said to Lobov. “All I’m saying, he’s a f—-t. I never knew he was a f—-t.” (Warning: Video is NSFW.)
McGregor had attended the event as a fan and during Lobov’s fight, he could be seen cageside boisterously cheering on his cohort from SBG Gym in Ireland. At one point, McGregor had to be warned to sit down by referee Mark Goddard.
During his television appearance, McGregor said he wanted to apologize and move past his use of the homophobic slur.
“I just have to say sorry for what I said … and try and move on from it,” McGregor said.
In the past, McGregor had championed Ireland’s efforts to legalize gay marriage, both during his public appearances and on social media:
The backstage incident with Lobov, however, certainly wasn’t the first time he has made waves with objectionable language.
As far back as his fight with Dennis Siver in January 2015, the 29-year-old Dublin native has had to defend himself from charges of insensitivity. In the lead-up to that bout, McGregor apologized for referring to Siver, a Russian-born fighter of German descent, as “a Nazi,” according to Bleacher Report’s Hunter Homistek.
During his protracted feud with Brazilian fighter Jose Aldo over the UFC men’s featherweight title, McGregor also boasted he would “turn [Aldo’s] favela into a Reebok sweatshop,” per Yahoo’s Dave Doyle.
In 2017, during the highly publicized media tour before his boxing match against Floyd Mayweather Jr., McGregor used racist language to taunt Mayweather by saying, “Dance for me, boy.” At the final public event before their fight, Mayweather dropped a homophobic slur of his own, directed at McGregor.
Mayweather went on to win their bout via 10th round TKO. The event was promoted as one of the biggest sporting events of the year and was hailed as a major success on pay-per-view by its organizers. However, the fight came under fire from critics for the lowbrow nature of much of the lead-up.
Although it’s thought that UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor will finally defend his UFC title in his anticipated return, retired boxing champ Paulie Malignaggi isn’t letting go of his oft-discussed potential boxing match versus “The Notorious.” The match-up had a ton of heat heading into McGregor’s boxing ‘money fight’ this summer, as the controversy over a now-infamous […]
Although it’s thought that UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor will finally defend his UFC title in his anticipated return, retired boxing champ Paulie Malignaggi isn’t letting go of his oft-discussed potential boxing match versus “The Notorious.”
The match-up had a ton of heat heading into McGregor’s boxing ‘money fight’ this summer, as the controversy over a now-infamous sparring session where the UFC megastar supposedly dropped Malignaggi dominated MMA headlines mid-August. It understandably lead to talk of a potential boxing match with Malignaggi, but the momentum all but went away when McGregor was finished by Mayweather.
Tony Ferguson won the interim UFC lightweight title at UFC 216, and it became obvious McGregor simply had to compete in the Octagon, even as Malignaggi recently claimed his manager Al Heymon was in talks to book his coveted bout with McGregor. McGregor’s team has even seemed to have begun to tease a title unification bout with Ferguson, and the always-there trilogy bout with Nate Diaz is well, just that.
However, Malignaggi won’t let it go.
The retired boxer tried to pull out all the stops on Twitter this week in response to a Bloody Elbow article where McGregor’s longtime training partner Artem Lobov, who lost to Andre Fili at last weekend’s UFC Gdansk, was considering a move to boxing and was willing to fight Malignaggi.
In an effort to fight the famed Irishman, Malignaggi offered to fight both he and Lobov on the same night:
I tell you what we could do just so we at least even the stakes, I fight he and Conor in the same night. I'm not even kidding either lol. https://t.co/u9IEivj1Ua
It may seem that it’s a last-ditch effort at getting a big fight no one really wants to watch, and Malignaggi continued to justify the outlandish prospect when someone asked him if he would fight McGregor and Lobov at the same time, referring back to the one-night tournaments of the early UFC where fighters would fight multiple times in a night:
Even the old UFC tournaments gave you time between fights when fighting multiple times in a night. Same platform I stop them both #Boxinghttps://t.co/JCuNfQb6cx
There’s probably not an athletic commission that would sanction such a pair of match-ups on the same night, but hey, Malignaggi might as well pull out all the stops for one last push for a fight he’s not going to get.
Artem Lobov may be walking away from mixed martial arts to dive into the boxing world. Lobov is coming off a unanimous decision loss to Andre Fili at UFC Fight Night 118. The two did battle inside the Ergo Arena in Gdansk, Poland. After the fight, Lobov said he was considering retirement. Speaking to BT […]
Artem Lobov may be walking away from mixed martial arts to dive into the boxing world. Lobov is coming off a unanimous decision loss to Andre Fili at UFC Fight Night 118. The two did battle inside the Ergo Arena in Gdansk, Poland. After the fight, Lobov said he was considering retirement. Speaking to BT […]
Artem Lobov may be walking away from mixed martial arts to dive into the boxing world. Lobov is coming off a unanimous decision loss to Andre Fili at UFC Fight Night 118. The two did battle inside the Ergo Arena in Gdansk, Poland. After the fight, Lobov said he was considering retirement. Speaking to BT […]
Artem Lobov may be walking away from mixed martial arts to dive into the boxing world. Lobov is coming off a unanimous decision loss to Andre Fili at UFC Fight Night 118. The two did battle inside the Ergo Arena in Gdansk, Poland. After the fight, Lobov said he was considering retirement. Speaking to BT […]
Although yesterday’s (Sat., October 21, 2017) UFC Fight Night 118 from the Ergo Arena in Gdansk, Poland, may have been short on palpable buzz, the card did feature some antics from UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor. ‘The Notorious’ appeared cageside to root for friend and training partner Artem Lobov, who met Andre Fili in the feature prelim […]
Although yesterday’s (Sat., October 21, 2017) UFC Fight Night 118 from the Ergo Arena in Gdansk, Poland, may have been short on palpable buzz, the card did feature some antics from UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor.
‘The Notorious’ appeared cageside to root for friend and training partner Artem Lobov, who met Andre Fili in the feature prelim bout in Gdansk. His tutelage could be heard from afar, and the brash Irish champ became even more animated by approaching the cage to give his instruction.
That was when referee Marc Goddard scolded McGregor by firmly telling him, “What’s gotten into you, Conor? Be professional.” He stepped back and settled himself as Lobov ultimately lost to Fili by decision. The day after, Goddard told MMA Fighting ‘The Notorious’ was essentially acting as a fourth cornerman and could have influenced the fight’s outcome:
“The reason I interjected is because Artem gets a fourth cornerman cage side giving instruction. That’s not allowed. Imagine had Conor talked him through a fight-ending sequence. Then what?
“Conor was basically acting like a fourth cornerman. Walking around the cage side wherever and whenever he wanted. When Fili took down Artem, Conor was right there. That’s simply not fair and not allowed. I won’t have it. He can’t do as he pleases.”
Photo Credit: Per Haljestam for USA TODAY Sports
Goddard remained firm in his stance, clarifying that McGregor could have yelled as loudly as he wanted until he approached the cage. In his eyes, what he did was unfair, so Goddard made a steadfast call quickly to uphold the integrity of the match-up:
“If Conor had stood up, stayed at his seat, then he could have shouted till his hearts content. That’s what he’s supposed to do. But what he simply cannot do, what he is not allowed to do, is approach the cage at any point and as I say act as the fourth corner. That’s unfair and unjust. Anyone who knows me will tell you I’ve done this forever, in any country in any situation. My integrity is not wavered and neither is the rules. We can’t allow that. I simply had to act.”
UFC lightweight champion 