Artem Lobov

“Honestly, I'm destroying people in sparring, but for some reason I haven't been able to show my full potential in the UFC.”

“It's called the Ultimate Fighting Championship and people pay to come and see the fights.”

“I was absolutely honored to be invited to the Kremlin. It has been a dream of mine ever since I was a kid.”

“Obviously UFC was one of those kind of dreams that we weren't sure if we were ever going to reach, so for us, the biggest belt was the Cage Contender belt.”

“I've never been a big fan of jewellery or any of the shiny stuff, I just want to fight.”

“Whenever someone has an unorthodox approach, different to what a standard boxer would look like, they write it off as being bad. They never seem to look at the normal approach to boxing and think that it might be slightly outdated.”

“Born in Russia, forged in Ireland, they don't make them like this anymore.”

“When you ask to go to some other country and fight their local best guy, and you know the judges are going to be his friend and the referee is going to be his coach, the head of commission guys is probably going to be his relative or something like that, and you're asked to do that for 100 Euros. Nobody wants to do that.”

“I always seek the biggest challenge and MMA is the biggest challenge.”

“This isn't a very manly thing to do, not showing up for a fight.”

“Having your hands up doesn't stop you from getting knocked out and there are a lot of advantages to having your hands down. It's also more exciting because it looks very impressive from the fans' perspective, which is a big factor in the entertainment business.”

“I'd be lying if I didn't tell you that money was a big factor in signing for Bare Knuckle - we're prize fighters, and our success is measured by the size of our purse.”

“Whether it's in the UFC or elsewhere, you need to be winning in this sport.”

“I'm a learner and I'm a go-getter.”

“When I was in the UFC I challenged some of the biggest guys in the world. When I was fighting in Europe I did the same.”

“This is the fight game, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.”

“I just couldn't turn down the money Bare Knuckle FC were throwing at me, so I ended up signing with them.”

“Any of the shows I've ever fought on, they always want to have me back because I always have the fight of the night performance.”

“If no one is watching, it doesn't matter what else you are achieving, you are not successful.”

“Whether I like them or I don't like them, it makes no difference for me. Whoever is standing across the cage from me, that's who is going to go down.”