UFC Fight Night Moncton - Johnson vs Lobov

Outlaw Pete

Let's Go Artem!!

ASOT

Outlaw Pete wrote: »

Let's Go Artem!!

First event I'm going to watch since I moved to Italy, even later now due to the time difference yay.

tinpib

Just see now it's 630pm Eastern which is the usual 11:30pm start, if you go to the UFC UK site it said 10:30pm. Balls.

mailburner

first fight about to start

fancy an upset here (ray getting beat imo)

mailburner

good win for ray but the 30-27 score seemed a bit off

Wrongway1985

Not the correct decision anyway.

mailburner

That's what ya call a slugfest

Outlaw Pete

That Philly Cheese King looks nice.

martyos121

Didn’t expect it to be so close going into the third.

1-1, come on Artem!

Outlaw Pete

Come on, Artem! Johnson's eye now could make this close!

martyos121

Artem gave him a very good fight, but he was just outclassed in the final round. Johnson is very skilful and clearly a level or two above him, no shame in losing that whatsoever.

Outlaw Pete

Yeah, Johnson much too good in the end.

One judge going 30-27 though? Bollox.

martyos121

Main event is too close to call for me, just going to sit back and enjoy it.

It ain’t going 25 minutes though, I’m confident of that.

Outlaw Pete

Mental stuff. What a fight. Smith has some heart!

martyos121

Very professional performance from Smith, bided his time and took his chance. Great effort to finish the choke too.

Fight was 12-1 to end by submission just before it started, thought those odds were a bit long for a guy with 10 sub victories but I was never going to put money on that outcome and I doubt many would have either.

The Nal

I cant believe the GOAT lost

ASOT

Great post from John regarding Artem. At the end of the day he's spot on with most of it. I really enjoyed last night's card aswell.

Coach K wrote: »

Artem Lobov is only in the UFC because of his relationship with Conor McGregor. Maybe. Only for Conor he would not have been brought back after his preliminary loss on the Ultimate Fighter and, who knows, maybe quit. He has a losing record and just suffered another loss last night. If it’s just records you’re interested in, if someone’s win/loss record is as deep as your analysis is capable of then I’d stop reading now. Actually if you’ve never really tried to achieve anything yourself and instead enjoy making snide remarks and commentating on where the ‘the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better’ then I recommend Chuck Mindenhall’s recent article.

But if you are interested in a sincere argument, one which we may disagree on at the end, then continue. I would just ask that you are honest and base your points on logic rather than your dislike for his high profile teammate. So does Artem deserve to be in the UFC based on his own merits? Should he be cut after another loss? Well firstly, if losses against high level opposition were the only criteria for being cut then you’d be quickly left with just 2 in each weight class. Sounds obvious but on every fight card HALF the fighters lose. Cut them all?

So dont cut fighters who lose more than they win? Obviously not. Someone like CM Punk who although ‘entertaining’ clearly could not compete at the UFC level. His last fight was against someone who was 0-1 as an amateur and 0-1 as a pro. For his own health he needs to fight much lower level competition. So is Artem similar? Very low skill level but has a famous mate? Well let’s look at the evidence starting with last night. I’ve been a big fan of MJ for years now. Ran over LW ‘in the title mix’ Poirer in less than 2mins. Beat the very skilled Tony Ferguson and Edson Barboza. So surely when the once no.5 ranked LW in the world fought Artem it was going to be a complete mismatch? Then how is it after 2 rounds 2 judges had it even going into the 3rd. Round 3 was close until MJ snatched it with a terrific takedown. Well done and great win. But that’s not the point. One could hardly argue it was a one sided beat down.

What about his run on the Ultimate Fighter. Impossible to argue he did not catch a lucky break getting the ‘Wildcard’. But what did he do with that break? KO’d 3 guys in a row to fight on the finale. Only a handful of fighters on the planet have been able to achieve a run on TUF like that.

What happened when he met ‘perennial contender’ Cub Swanson. BJJ Blackbelt and aggressive creative striker with huge amount of experience at one of the best training camps in the world. Artem only got that main event slot because of Conor right? He was going to be badly exposed and KO’d or Sub’d in a minute or two right? Wrong. 25 tough minutes where Artem had his moments and jointly earned ‘fight of the night’ award. Although he ultimately lost, to say it looked like he did not belong in the UFC would be to speak with emotion because you dislike him/Conor rather than fact based on performance.

Artem is a rare breed of fighter. A fighters’ fighter. I’ve had conversations with top brass in the top organisations and they tell me it doesn't matter who your guys fight, just get them winning records and we’ll take them on. That’s all that matters and has been commonplace in professional boxing for a long long time. Get them to 12-0 and we’ll sign them. That’s not Artem’s approach. Every fight was the toughest fight he could possibly find. Often times we would argue about that as I would try and guide him a little bit. He did not want to know. It is absolutely not the most efficient approach if you want to get to the ‘big organisations’. It’s one I’ve learned from but it’s also one that is impossible not to respect.

I’ll admit I’m writing this partially from a position of emotion. Artem is a friend and because I know about his incredibly tough life, I really hope he writes a book one day as it’d be far more interesting than the book I put out, it stings more than most. Plus his genuine ‘anyone, anytime’ attitude, often cited….so rarely true cannot help but impress the fan in me. As a training partner he will be incredibly tough on you, ruthlessly honest and would give you his last euro if you needed it. However that being said, I believe his performances in the cage against the highest level opposition in the world is worthy of a lot more respect that it gets. I don’t think Artem has the skills to be a UFC World Champion, I can be honest and state that but he 100% has earned the respect of his fellow fighters and shown, independently, he earned his spot on that stage. He understands the business and knows how to build a fight and always brings an exciting contest. Love him, hate him fans are always engaged when the Russian Hammer is on a card. I do not know what is next for him. Maybe he will decide to put his masters in finance or his fluency in 5 languages to use in the corporate world but if he fights again I will proudly stand behind him holding his bucket.

As a bonus for getting through my Sunday Morning rant/sermon here’s a clip of Artem doing what nobody else has been able to do - spar and push Conor for nearly 10yrs on a weekly basis. It’s from over 7 years ago when nobody had nothing and Artem had hair haha.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCIOWbzsHEg

Outlaw Pete

Mistake in title but good interview.......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbFGIZHyPlQ

tinpib

Just caught up, actually roared 'yes' when Oezdemir tapped. Delighted for Smith, a likeable guy and thought Oezdemir was over-rated anyway. But it seemed like his plan was to just hold on until the later rounds and then try and take him. Well done Anthony.

Artem was outclassed, he also has T-Rex arms? His reach must be tiny.

Enjoyed the Herman fight too.