Artem Lobov Believes McGregor Beats Khabib In Rematch

Artem Lobov takes part in one of the most eagerly anticipated fights of the year this weekend, when he faces Paulie Malignaggi at BKFC 6.

And the Irish Russian knows a thing or two about eagerly anticipated fights. He was a huge part of arguably the most eagerly anticipated MMA fight of all time, when Khabib Nurmagomedov fought his close friend and SBG teammate Conor McGregor, last October at UFC 229.

Ahead of his own huge fight, Lobov spoke to The Business Insider about a rematch between Khabib and Conor. And according to the former UFC featherweight, McGregor will learn from the mistakes in the first fight and win the rematch.

“If you look at the past, look at what happened with Diaz. When he realised a mistake, he said, ‘Okay, no problem,’ took it on the chin, went back to the drawing board, completely took new approach toward the fight camp and got the win. I think it would be no different this time.”

Lobov also said that too big a deal is made of losing in combat sports, because so many boxers have padded records.

“The sport of boxing has ruined this for everybody by padding the record, building these fake, undefeated guys. In boxing you look around and everyone is undefeated, everyone is a world champion, and nobody wants to fight each other.

“So the result is, the fans have this wrong understanding of how the competitive world works. In a competitive world, everybody loses. There is no issue with a loss. It’s how you come back from it that will define you. And I believe Conor will be victorious [against Khabib].”

He makes a very good point. Far too often in boxing, the best fighters don’t fight the best fighters. The current heavyweight situation is a prime example. The best boxers are often kept apart from each other for as long as possible.

The complete opposite could be said in MMA. Both ONE Championship and Bellator have come under fire from some fans recently for not protecting young prospects Sage Northcutt and Aaron Pico enough, giving both fighters tough opposition.

Khabib is set to defend his UFC lightweight title against the interim champion Dustin Poirier, at UFC 242 on September 7th. McGregor currently doesn’t have a fight booked but is expected to return by the end of the year.

Lobov takes on the former boxing world champion Malignaggi, in the main event at BKFC 6, which goes down this Saturday night at the Florida State Fairgrounds, in Tampa, Florida. It will be Lobov’s second bare knuckle fight.


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