Conor McGregor has spoken out for the first time since it was revealed he is being sued for millions by a former teammate.
Artem Lobov, a retired fighter who used to train alongside McGregor, claims he played a pivotal role in setting up Proper 12 Irish Whiskey before being pushed out of the business when it took off and made the Irishman a lot of money.
Back in August, ‘The Russian Hammer’, who has a master’s degree from Dublin City University in Finance and Capital Markets, revealed his role in Proper 12 during an exclusive interview with talkSPORT.
“A few people know, but this was actually my idea. I was the person who came up with the idea to do a whiskey for Conor,” Lobov said.
“Once the deal was ready, I went to Conor and I said, ‘Conor, I have the deal ready for you. This is going to be a billion-dollar deal, no messing here.’ I’m not sure if he took me seriously or not at the time with the billion dollars.
“We continued working on it and as you can see it was a massive success. I’m really happy to see that and I’m really happy to be a part of it.”
Lobov claims to have rejected a $1million [£840,000] offer from McGregor for his help but refused to reveal if he had made any money from the wildly successful whiskey brand.
“Conor offered me $1m but I turned it down, I didn’t accept it. You know, throughout my career whenever I have helped Conor with camps, he offered to pay me for them camps, but I never accepted money from him,” he added.
Most read in MMA
“I said, ‘we’ve always been friends and helped each other. I never paid you for my camps so I’m not gonna accept money from you for my camps either.’
“With the whiskey, there was a bit more to the story about how that went about and what happened, but I don’t want to share that yet…I turned down $1million and didn’t accept the deal.”
In April 2021, ‘Notorious’ and two other investors sold their stakes in Proper 12 for $600million [£503million] and the former dual-weight UFC champion became the richest man in sport as a result.
Earlier this week, Lobov initiated High Court action and is claiming that an agreement existed that entitled him to five per cent of the $180million [£151million] McGregor made from the sale.
After days of silence, ‘Notorious’ took to social media on Saturday evening with an uncomplimentary song about his former friend who is taking him to court.
“Artem is a rat, na na na na! Hey! Na na, na na! Hey! Artem is a rat, na na na na. Hey! Rat,” McGregor chanted.
Away from business drama, the biggest star in MMA history is currently gearing up for his eagerly anticipated UFC comeback after being sidelined due to injury since July 2021.
McGregor has seriously bulked up during his time away from the sport and is expected to attempt a welterweight title run when he returns in 2023.
The 34-year-old says he will complete two tests with the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) in February and look to book a fight in the division that is home to Jorge Masvidal, Kamaru Usman, and champion Leon Edwards.
ncG1vNJzZmiskaG4tLzOq6tnm5%2BifLS8zquraKWdlnxyfpRxbG1tX5i8r7vRZqScn6KatLC%2BjKygp5%2BjYq6zwMSmZKWnkqTDbrzRqKeeql1mf264wLCqrqGkZA%3D%3D