If Artem Lobov is going to fight again, he now has to wait until a later date.
The former UFC and BKFC fighter, who was coming out of five-year long retirement to compete again, is no longer scheduled to compete on Friday after his fight against Zubaira Tukhugov was scrapped from the card at the last minute.
PFL officials confirmed that Lobov suffered an injury in training, and as a result, his fight with Tukhugov was pulled from the event.
It’s unfortunate news for Lobov after he decided to make his
return to action to settle a longstanding grudge against Tukhogov following an altercation that happened in the UFC several years ago.
Lobov was confronted by Tukhogov and other members of Khabib Nurmagomedov’s team due to his association with former two-division UFC champion Conor McGregor. The heated altercation led to McGregor eventually showing up to back his teammate, which led to an assault on a bus that was transporting Nurmagomedov back to his hotel following a UFC press conference.
The entire melee only added to the already existing bad blood between McGregor and Nurmagomedov and Lobov was eventually supposed to fight Tukhogov but an injury forced the Russian out of the contest.
While he was anxious to settle the score with Tukhogov over that past incident, Lobov no longer counts McGregor as a friend after they had a falling out over the Irishman’s whiskey brand that he sold back in 2021. Lobov claimed he helped launch the brand and eventually filed a lawsuit against McGregor for over $6 million he believes he was owed from the sale.
There’s no word on the nature of the injury Lobov suffered, or if he could still potentially compete at a later date, but for now his fight has been pulled from the card.
