UFC News: UFC Fighter reveals the real reason for Conor-Khabib brawl

What's the story?

Former UFC lightweight champion, Conor McGregor's friend and confidant, Artem Lobov, finally broke the silence this Monday about the Conor-Khabib feud. Artem had appeared on Ariel Helwani's MMA talk show to reveal the comments passed and the actions that eventually culminated into the brawl that took place at the UFC 229 event.

In case you didn't know...

Artem Lobov is a Russian-Irish professional MMA fighter, who competes in the featherweight division of the UFC. The highlight of his career has been noted to be his fight against featherweight contender, Cub Swanson. This fight featured as the main event for UFC Fight Night 108, and although Artem ended up on the losing side, it did put him on the map for future featherweights to watch out for.

Artem Lobov is known the world around for sharing a close relationship with "The Notorious", Conor McGregor. He has also found fame amongst folks in the UFC for being the sparring partner for Conor McGregor. Here is what he has to say in an interview with Brian Stann, about being Conor McGregor's sparring partner:

“One of the things that kind of helped me to get a lot of things in the UFC, and I’m not going to deny it, is the fact that I was Conor’s training partner."

Here is a video of a sparring session between Artem Lobov and Conor Mcgregor

The heart of the matter

In a recent interview on Ariel Helwani's MMA talk show, Artem Lobov revealed the detailed happenings that brewed the Conor-Khabib animosity. During the conversation with Ariel Helwani, he disclosed being confronted by Khabib at the UFC host hotel lobby in Brooklyn, in regards to the comments he made to a reporter about Khabib calling Conor a 'chicken'. Artem further went on to say that 'chicken', in Russian slang, is one of the worst insults you can use against a man. Here is Artem explaining the gravity of the meaning of this word:

“Chicken means someone in a male prison who gets raped, it’s a very very severe insult, it is one of the most severe insults you can give a man in Russia."

Here is the podcast interview of Artem Lobov with Ariel Helwani

Artem Lobov further recalls being initially confronted alone by the Dagestani, who then fled for a moment, only to return with an entourage of 15 men to get physical with Lobov. Artem then sent a text message to Conor McGregor, who later flew from Dublin to New York City, to settle the score. Here is Artem Lobov recalling the incident:

“An avalanche of all kinds of crazy stuff going on. I had a million people messaging me, telling me to to do this or do that. There was only one message on my phone that was a good message, and that was from Conor. And all it said was ‘I’m on the way. I’m coming over."

What's next?

Following the confession from his latest interview, Artem Lobov seems to be helping the MMA fraternity in understanding the reason for the bad blood between Conor and Khabib. Although this doesn't explain the reason for Conor's behaviour regarding the bus incident or Khabib's attack on Dillon Danis, it will now be easier to piece these actions together.

Lobov went on to also say that he is willing to pursue a fight with Zubaira Tukhugov, who was involved in both the hotel incident, as well as the post-fight brawl at UFC 229.

What are your thoughts and opinions? Leave your comments below!