YOU CAN ALWAYS rely on Artem Lobov for an honest opinion.
It could be in relation to a view you’ve expressed or a new shirt you’re wearing, but Lobov will be quick to let you know if it meets with his approval or not.
His honesty is an admirable trait, but one that has probably prevented him — thus far — from achieving his dream of competing in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Few outside the Irish mixed martial arts community will be familiar with Lobov’s name, although many more will recognise his face. The 28-year-old is Conor McGregor’s main sparring partner and accompanied his Straight Blast Gym team-mate throughout the recent UFC 189 media world tour.
Dublin is home for Lobov nowadays and it has been for the past 12 years. However, he was born and raised in Russia and spent a couple of years in Argentina before his family settled here in Ireland, having arrived in search of the Celtic Tiger.
Lobov’s life today revolves around MMA, yet he was 21 by the time he actually sampled any form of martial arts. While studying for a BA in Business Studies and Spanish at DCU, he stumbled upon an ad on the campus for self-defence classes. That was his introduction.
As a child growing up in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia’s fifth largest city, Lobov begged his mother to allow him to take up boxing: “She just said no, you’ll get your nose broken. She was completely against it,” he recalls.
So trading punches wasn’t an option for Lobov. The alternative? Ballroom dancing. He wasn’t given much of a choice in the matter either. He lasted five years and eventually got pretty good at it. Lobov didn’t know it at the time, but those dance classes are still paying off today.
“My mom pressured me into it,” he says. “Growing up in the Soviet Union, ballroom dancing wasn’t the coolest thing to do. But that probably made me tougher, because it wasn’t an easy task to do ballroom dancing and not get bullied. And I never got bullied in my life, even though I changed to five secondary schools in three different countries.
“There are definitely benefits for MMA too in terms of the footwork. Men in general are shy with their movement. You’ll see it in a nightclub; girls will be on the dancefloor giving it loads and the lads will be standing there watching them, holding their pints.
“Men aren’t great movers so the ballroom dancing freed me in terms of the movement, which is really what fighting is about; footwork and controlling distance. Anderson Silva and Bruce Lee were good dancers so they definitely had advantages from that.”
Confronting anyone who made fun of his reluctant hobby wasn’t the toughest fight Lobov faced during his childhood, however. That duel came at the age of just 2, when he found himself spending a year in a hospital bed.
Lobov: “When I was born the doctors forgot to give me a TB [tuberculosis] shot, for whatever reason. One day I was by myself outside by where we lived, and I got my head stuck between these railings. I couldn’t get out and I was choking. I ended up unconscious and I was basically dying right there.
“Luckily a guy found me there and somehow managed to pull me out and save my life. But it turned out that he had just been released from prison and had TB, which he passed on to me. I ended up in hospital for a year and got through it, although I was under supervision for about six years after that before being cleared.”
In spite of it occurring at such a young age, it’s one of Lobov’s lasting memories of the 14 years he spent in a Russia where life was seldom easy: “Things were very bad economically at the time so you think that life anywhere else will be better.”
He’s not entirely sure why, but the Lobovs — “a Russian immigrant family in search of a better life” — decided to try their luck in Argentina instead. It’s nearly 15 years since they left Russia and he hasn’t returned yet.
“I was a little bit apprehensive about going back because of the army,” Lobov explains. “It’s compulsory, so if I went back I probably would have had to join the army for two years. I had other plans. I didn’t fancy wasting two unpaid years of my life in the army.”
Initially at least, things were no better in South America. Jobs were scarce there too and his parents were on the verge of sending Artem back to Russia to live with his grandmother until daylight eventually appeared on the horizon.
“There weren’t many jobs in Argentina either,” Lobov says, “and there were a lot of people living on the streets. For the first few weeks, the three of us — my mother, my stepdad and me — would spend every waking hour of every day going from door to door looking for jobs.
“We looked up three Spanish words in the dictionary — I look job — and went into literally every place saying that. We’d spend the entire day doing that, until finally we got lucky and my stepdad found a job as a car mechanic. Things were okay after that but those first few weeks were tough.”
But the Argentine adventure would only last a couple of years. “The economy went sour there too,” according to Lobov, and Ireland was calling. The country was in the midst of a boom at the turn of the millennium and all were welcome. Lobov’s family have been here ever since and the clan has expanded in the meantime. Artem now has an 11-year-old sister, Irish-born-and-bred.
Almost four years after making his professional MMA debut, Lobov left his job with Bank of America last September in order to focus all his efforts on training full-time and making the most of his career in the sport.
Being an essential part of Conor McGregor’s preparations has allowed him to do so from a financial perspective, but Lobov’s own ambitions extend far beyond that. He’s been up close and personal with the UFC’s octagon a few times now, but so far he’s had to settle for being on the outside looking in.
There are those who’ll protest that a look at the numbers on Lobov’s record justify his failure to attract a UFC call-up so far. And, on the face of it, they’d be right. However, his career requires a more detailed examination before the true potential of his abilities is revealed.
In mixed martial arts, there are plenty of fighters who’ll boast of a willingness to take on anyone, anywhere, anytime… except that guy… there… then. But Lobov has always been true to his word when it comes to those promises, often to his own detriment. His fearlessness and honesty have earned him a reputation as a fighter who’s always willing to step in on short notice, regardless of the opponent.
Being selective about what fights you take in order to keep your record looking pretty is an increasingly common policy for MMA fighters. Padding your record, as it’s called, isn’t difficult to do in a sport where there’s never a shortage of guys willing to lose as long as there’s money to gain. Figures, not performances, still appear to be the UFC’s key requirement when it comes to recruiting new talent.
By refusing to go down that route, Lobov’s UFC hopes have suffered. He’s beaten more top non-UFC featherweights than anyone in Europe, but it hasn’t been enough to convince UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby that he’s worth a shot.
Lobov’s 11-10 record might not be attractive, but his fights always are. He’s a guaranteed entertainer and there are a whole host of featherweights currently on the UFC’s roster who’d struggle against him. Lobov has been stopped just once in the last four years, and that was at the hands of the excellent Alex Enlund — the man currently in possession of Conor McGregor’s old Cage Warriors belt.
“I’ve been hassling the guy [Sean Shelby] every time I see him,” Lobov says. “He probably hates me by now. But I’ll do whatever I’ve got to do. He literally said to me, go and improve you record, pad your record, get to 15-10 and you’re in.
“But there’s no way I could ever do that. If I wanted, I could be 15-10 by next week. We could fly in a few shitebags from England and I could finish them in one night. Job done.”
So, why not? If others are getting ahead at his expense by doing just that, can’t he swallow his pride temporarily for the sake of achieving a dream?
Lobov: “I couldn’t do it. It would go against everything I believe in. I don’t think that’s the way it should be done. People involved in MMA always talk about it being a legitimate sport, but that’s the wrong direction to take if that’s really the case.
“People are doing that and getting opportunities they don’t really deserve. It shouldn’t be allowed. It shows a lack of respect for yourself and for the art of fighting. If you’re a professional golfer, beating some random guy from the street isn’t going to prove whether you’re shite or any good. It’s the same thing. I’ll never do that, no matter what.”
Lobov’s ties to Conor McGregor won’t hurt his chances either. They’ve been sparring partners and close friends for a long time, and that didn’t happen by chance.
“You have to be tough to last with Conor. Especially a while back because we weren’t as smart with our training as we are now. It was blood, sweat and teeth flying into the air. We would just go at it, complete wars, fighting for survival.
“Not many people were able to survive that. A lot of guys would come in and say they wanted to spar with Conor McGregor, but they’d want out after a minute… even when Conor wasn’t going at it that hard. I’ve lasted years, thousands of rounds.
“People will say that if I do get into the UFC that it’ll be because of the publicity I’m getting from Conor. And in a lot of ways I agree with that. But I’ve had to last there. I’ve had to earn my place. I didn’t do that by looking good, I did it by fighting.”
There are tryouts for a new series of The Ultimate Fighter in Las Vegas next week and Lobov is giving them serious consideration. That could be his way in. For now, however, patience is the key to bringing ballroom brawls to the UFC.
