Artem Lobov insists team-mate Conor McGregor deserves chance to beat Khabib Nurmagomedov in rematch

Artem Lobov believes his long-time friend and training partner Conor McGregor should rematch Khabib Nurmagomedov next, rather than fight contender Justin Gaethje. 

McGregor, who dispatched of Donald Cerrone in 40 seconds in Janaury, is being tipped to face Gaethje in the summer, with the victor going on to face the winner of Khabib’s fight with Tony Ferguson. 

Khabib is still due to defend his lightweight title against Ferguson next month despite the coronavirus pandemic and McGregor’s promise to stay active means many expect him to take another fight before going for the belt, Gaethje the most obvious candidate.

However, Lobov is not interested in seeing the Irishman in anything other than a title fight.

‘To be honest, I just want to see Conor fight the winner of Tony and Khabib, which makes more sense than Gaethje. There is always going to be someone talking. But, when you are in the position of Conor and has done what he has done, you don’t need to prove anything,’ Lobov said to BJPENN.com. 

‘For him, he should just fight the best guy every time. They wanted him to have a fight before and he had one against ‘Cowboy’ and finished that in 40 seconds. That’s it. From now on he needs to fight the best guy only.’  

McGregor was submitted in the fourth round when he fought Khabib back in 2018 but Lobov is confident he would exact his revenge if they were to run it back.

‘I think if you look at when Conor lost to Nate Diaz he made the necessary changed and dominated that fight with three knockdowns. He overcame the issues he had. You have to give the rematch to Conor,’ he explained. 

‘It won’t be an easy fight but it will be a win for him. Look at round three, Khabib wasn’t able to score any takedowns. Look at how good Conor did, you have never seen any fighter do that. There are clear reasons, now that he’s focused, with another training camp for Khabib that he will win.’