Artem Lobov sues Conor McGregor for millions over Proper No. Twelve Irish Whiskey
When you think about Conor McGregor‘s rise from rags to riches, it’s hard not to think about Artem Lobov by his side. Lobov was one of McGregor’s best friends, training partners, and his sidekick. Wherever McGregor was during his rise, Lobov was right there behind him. Even before McGregor entered the UFC, Lobov was in McGregor’s corner when McGregor fought in front of a few hundred people at regional events in Ireland. This friendship looks to be over now as Lobov is suing McGregor over Proper No. Twelve Irish Whiskey.
Artem alleges that he played a pivotal role in the development of Proper No. Twelve. According to Lobov, McGregor was considering getting into the vodka business with professional strongman Hafpor Bjornsson, who played “The Mountain” in Game of Thrones. Lobov stopped McGregor from doing that and told him to explore Irish whiskey instead. McGregor allegedly told Lobov to do some investigating and put a deal together. Lobov went to different distilleries and got to work. He says that McGregor offered him $1 million, but he turned it down.
Proper No. Twelve was sold for $600 million in 2021 and Lobov is suing McGregor for 5 percent of his profits from the sale. Lobov announced this past August that he was going to be releasing a book where he would discuss how he came up with the idea of Proper No. Twelve. This Instagram post was the first time that Lobov publicly spoke about his claims of Proper No. Twelve. McGregor has since unfollowed Lobov on Instagram.
When Khabib Nurmagomedov had an altercation with Lobov in Brooklyn during the week of UFC 223, McGregor loaded a plane full of fighters in Ireland and flew to New York to find Khabib. McGregor found Khabib on a bus and threw a dolly at it, shattering the window. This led to a fight between McGregor and Khabib at UFC 229, which stands as the all-time biggest box office pay-per-view in UFC history. The infamous dolly incident all started because of the interaction between Lobov and Khabib earlier that week. Who would have ever thought that four years later, Lobov and McGregor would be fighting each other in court?
The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement instructs Sportsbooks not to offer wagering on any fight James Krause is involved in
Remember in the 10th edition of OverUnder when we talked about a UFC fight being under investigation for suspicious betting activity? Well, it seems that all roads point back to James Krause. The fight under investigation was a Featherweight bout between Shayilan Nuerdanbieke and Darrick Minner. Sportsbooks saw unusual line movement in the final hours leading up to the fight, as they were flooded with bets on Nuerdanbieke, who won the fight by first-round TKO. Many began to question if Krause, who cornered Minner, gave away inside information about Minner’s pre-existing knee injury which could have influenced the unusual line movement.
Last week, Miles Johns defeated Vince Morales at UFC Fight Night 215. In his post-fight interview, Johns revealed that his coach, Krause, had been pulled from his corner and that the UFC was suspending him.
https://twitter.com/jedigoodman/status/1594065634463096832
Later that night, it was revealed that the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement notified the state’s sportsbooks that they are prohibited from taking bets on fights that Krause is involved in as a coach, trainer, promoter or fighter.
Krause ran a Discord Server called “The 1% Club,” where he sold betting advice to gamblers. Yesterday, both Krause’s Discord Server and YouTube channel had been deleted. Krause is the subject of an ongoing investigation, and it looks like he’s trying to keep a low profile. The UFC’s betting integrity partner, Don Best Sports, is currently investigating the case. If Krause is found guilty of any wrongdoing, it’s possible that we’ll never see him corner another UFC fighter again.
Jiri Prochazka vacates his UFC light heavyweight title
News broke this week that Jiri Prochazka has vacated his UFC light heavyweight title and he’ll no longer be fighting Glover Teixeira at UFC 282 on December 10. Prochazka severely injured his shoulder while training in Las Vegas last week, in what Dana White described as the worst shoulder injury in UFC history. When a champion is usually injured, the UFC creates an interim title. This wasn’t the case this time, as Prochazka vacated the title because he didn’t want to hold up the division. As a champion, Prochazka was entitled to pay-per-view points. He’ll forego that right unless his management works out a deal with the UFC.
Prochazka released a statement on Instagram saying that he’ll rehab the injury and immediately fight for the light heavyweight title upon his return.
With Prochazka injured, the UFC tried to book a fight for the vacant title between Teixeira and Magomed Ankalaev. Teixeira was willing to fight Ankalaev but asked the UFC to fight him at UFC 283 in Brazil in two months. Teixeira also offered to fight Blachowicz at UFC 282 for the title but said he needed more time to fight Ankalaev because he’s a new opponent. Teixeira has a history with Blachowicz, as he defeated him in October of 2021 to become the light heavyweight Champion. Since he’s already done a training camp for Blachowicz in the past, he was willing to fight him on short notice. The UFC didn’t accept either of Teixeira’s offers and moved on, making a fight between Blachowicz and Ankalaev for the vacant title at UFC 282.
It will be interesting to see what happens with Teixeira next. He was initially planning on retiring after fighting Prochazka this past June but decided to come back for another fight when he was offered the rematch. Now that he’s been removed from the title picture, you’ve got to wonder if 43-year-old Teixeira ever fights again.
Quick hits
- Paulo Costa says he hasn’t officially accepted a fight against Robert Whittaker at UFC 284.
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