Highlights! Lobov Loses Bare Knuckle Sandbag Fight In Ukraine, Retires

Artem Lobov bit off more than he could chew when he took on Olympic silver medalist and WBO lightweight champ Denys Berinchyk in the unique bare knuckle promotion Mahatch FC.

It was a busy weekend of bare knuckle combat this weekend as Artem Lobov and Olympic silver medalist in boxing Denys Berinchyk faced off in Mahatch FC, a rather unique bare knuckle fight promotion from Ukraine.

Three elements immediately jump out when you watch Mahatch FC: first, it’s bare knuckle. Secondly, fights take place in a sandbag ring. And third: jeans and sneakers are mandatory. Well, most of the time. For this one bout between Lobov and Berinchyk, standard boxing trunks were allowed.

By all accounts the fight was a violent affair with Lobov displaying his usual amount of blood and guts determination. But as you might expect going into the fight, the Olympic boxer and current WBO International lightweight champion ended up getting the better of Lobov, knocking him down multiple times en route to the ref waving things off between the fourth and fifth rounds.

Watch the highlights here:

You can watch the whole Lobov vs Berinchik fight and Mahatch FC event replay on FITE TV here.

According to Bruno Massami, Artem Lobov announced he was retiring from fighting after the defeat.

At 34 years old, Lobov is no spring chicken but has parlayed a 13-15 MMA / 2-2 bare knuckle record into a pretty solid career, with his name pulling enough attention that we’re talking about a bare knuckle sandbag jeans promotion right now. He could easily keep fighting and cashing checks, but if he thinks it’s time to hang them up then we salute the real underground GOAT for everything he did (especially that Paulie Malignaggi fight).

Godspeed, Artem.