Artem Lobov Tells the Story Behind His Andre Fili Callout

For those of you who haven't been watching the latest season of TUF, Conor McGregor's primary sparring partner and SBG teammate, Artem Lobov, is quite fond of a bit of fisticuffs. His ring name, 'The Russian Hammer', doesn't exactly portray him as a man who reluctantly goes about his business in the Octagon, but on this week's episode we saw SBG's Russian ambassador soar to new heights in terms of gameness.

Sitting beside McGregor waiting to weigh in for his preliminary bout with James Jenkins, Lobov quizzed Team USA coach Urijah Faber on the weight class of his Team Alpha Male stablemate Andre 'Touchy' Fili. When 'The California Kid' told Lobov that he fought at featherweight, Lobov immediately put his name in the hat for a fight with the prospect.

The timing of the inquiry seemed strange given that he was about to weigh in to fight another man, but Lobov explained that a rift had been brewing between him and the TAM fighters since the gym skirmish that happened earlier in the season when TJ Dillashaw appeared as a guest coach.

In the same conversation that Lobov called Fili out, McGregor claimed that he could see 'The Russian Hammer' and Faber squaring off further down the line. In hindsight, Lobov is confident that he could give the former WEC champ a "kick in the ass" towards retirement.

"What they didn't show in the episode where we had that gym fight with the Team USA guys was when that fight was separated, they didn't stop," recalled the Russian. "They kept talking shit, Cody and Fili, they were saying 'let's go outside now, let's settle this right now.'

"I thought that was very disrespectful because they knew that all of us guys didn't have contracts yet, there was no way we could've done anything like that because we would've been thrown out of the house in a second. In my head I was thinking like this, 'I can't fight them now, but when I'm out of the house – then, I can fight them.' So that's why I said that to Faber, that's why I asked for that fight.

"To be honest, Conor suggested the fight with Urijah Faber and when I think about that now, that's probably the better guy for me at the moment. Just because Urijah is an old motherfucker now, he's probably five minutes away from a retirement home so I'd love to give him a farewell with a kick in the ass to send him on his way.

"I want to fight everyone. Weight makes no difference when it comes to who I want to fight. I'd love to fight next Saturday. It makes no difference to me if it's Fili, if it's Cody, if it's Faber or if it's whoever else. I have my reasons to fight every single guy on the UFC roster."

Lobov was brought back into the house after losing a decision to fellow European Mehdi Baghdad in the elimination rounds. Lobov seemed to be under the impression that some people didn't think he deserved to be in the house after his loss, and while he actually agreed with them, he is adamant that his first round knockout of James Jenkins on this week's episode changed his housemates' perception of him.

"In the house you don't really feel this kind of momentum shifts, but in my head I knew that's what they were thinking. I knew that after seeing someone get knocked out like that, especially when you consider the fact that Jenkins had never been stopped or knocked out, I know when they saw someone as tough as him get destroyed like he did, surely something must have gone off in their heads. Surely they were thinking, 'this is the guy I would rather not fight.'"

Team Europe took the lead in this week's episode going 5-3 in the competition stakes. Although it would appear that it was a significant turning point given that there is only one preliminary fight left, Lobov insisted that based on the way the Europeans were winning their fights, it was always evident who the better team were.

He said: "I know the score was even until this week's episode, but if you look at our fights, the Europeans all took very dominant wins. Saul Rogers, a guy I've fought before, he absolutely dominated his opponent, he got two 10-8 rounds. Martin Svensson got the stoppage with a choke and I got a knockout. Those are very impressive wins. All of the American wins came in very close fights, they were mostly shitty decisions.

"Of course it gave us a boost to take the lead. It was good for me to see guys that I've beaten before dominating other guys that were in the house. Once again, it shows the quality of opposition that they spread throughout the house."

Given his high praise for his European teammates' wins, Lobov said all of the team were very confident that they wouldn't have their TUF exits forced by Dana White's quarterfinalist stipulation, which will see the worst performance out of the preliminary fights leave the house.

"If there was one thing we knew, it was that none of the Europeans were going to be cut. We knew that we put on good fights so there was nothing to worry about. The Team USA guys were definitely the ones who were sweating," he revealed.