Lobov: Khabib Business Not Settled … Yet

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Long before Conor McGregor was throwing dollies through bus windows in Brooklyn, Artem Lobov and Khabib Nurmagomedov were in a hotel hallway, trying to handle business like men. Which is a nice way of saying “The Russian Hammer” got punked by “The Eagle.”

That hand-on-the-back-of-the-head thing is never a good sign.

Things escalated soon thereafter when Conor McGregor — Lobov’s longtime friend and teammate — arrived to even the odds and in some ways, settle the score. All that did was escalate the matter until UFC 229, which ended in fines and suspensions.

Water under the bridge? Pffffft … as if.

“Definitely, things are not fine,” Lobov told Chael Sonnen. “There’s some unsettled business there, and I think in due course it will all be settled. But as of now, it’s definitely not. Not even close. Obviously his guys that support him, they always have a lot to say about me, but I don’t mind. It keeps my name in the headlines, it keeps my name in the Internet searches. And, as a result, it keeps my salary nice and high.”

How high? This high!

Lobov is no longer part of UFC after migrating to the world of bare-knuckle boxing, where he continues his fistic feud with Jason Knight this Sat. night (Nov. 16, 2019) on pay-per-view from inside Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi.

As for Nurmagomedov, he remains king of the 155-pound castle and will likely defend his title at some point in early-to-mid 2020, though it all depends on when the promotion will make its return to New York, now that “The Eagle” has refused to fly in Las Vegas.

One less place for him to settle his Lobov business, I suppose.