lol - what a tosser
The once close friendship between Conor McGregor and Artem Lobov appears to be a thing of the past.
According to The Irish Independent (h/t Bloody Elbow), Lobov is suing McGregor for millions, alleging that he was pivotal in developing McGregorâs Proper No. 12 Irish Whiskey, that McGregor sold a majority stake in for $600 million in 2021. Lobov reportedly claims that for his efforts in creating Proper Twelve, he has an agreement that entitles him to five percent of the money McGregor made from the sale.
âMy client is a retired professional fighter with a masterâs degree from DCU in Finance and Capital Markets,â Lobovâs attorney, Dermot McNamara said. âWe have issued High Court proceedings on his behalf to enforce an agreement with Mr McGregor regarding the Proper No. 12 whiskey brand. My client was the initial creator and co-founder of the concept to launch an Irish whiskey brand associated with Mr. McGregor. As these matters are now before the court, we will not be making any further comment.â
In response, McGregorâs representatives refuted the claims as incorrect.
âProper No. 12 Irish Whiskey was created, developed, branded and tirelessly promoted by Conor McGregor,â Karen J Kessler said.
McGregor and Lobov were once fast friends and training partners at Team SBG Ireland, with Lobov playing a central role in McGregorâs feuds with Khabib Nurmagomedov and Paulie Malignaggi. But that friendship appears to have faded as in August, Lobov claimed to have been the one who came up with the idea for Proper 12, when McGregor was considering getting into vodka with HafĂŸĂłr Björnsson, the professional strongman. Lobov claims he told McGregor to do whiskey instead and even did the legwork early on to get things rolling.
âI was the person who came up with the idea to do a whiskey for Conor,â Lobov said.
âI said to him before you even look any further (about Vodka), âhereâs what I know about Irish whiskey.â I told him about my presentation from college. I told him about the dominance of Irish whiskey and all of that. He said, âyou go off and see what deal you can put togetherâ and I went on my way.
âI went on and met all different whiskey distilleries. I called some and met some in person. I did my research and put a beautiful deal together. Once the deal was ready, I went to Conor and I said, âConor, I have the deal ready for you. This is going to be a billion-dollar deal, no messing here.â Iâm not sure if he took me seriously or not at the time with the billion dollars.
âConor offered me $1M but I turned it down, I didnât 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.â
With substantially more than $1 million at stake, Lobov appears to have changed his mind.
The 36-year-old Lobov retired from combat sports in 2021, following a bareknuckle boxing loss to Olympic silver medalist Denys Berichyk. His overall MMA record stands at 13-15-1, 1 NC, and his bareknuckle record stands at 2-2.
Trouble in paradise.
I would be shocked if Lobov has documentation of this. I thought this was more of a branding deal, where they slapped Conorâs name over bottles of Bushmills?
So he never accepted money from Conor for all of those training camps but now he wants 5% now that the relationship fell apart? Thats just bad decision making on his part. Lol at being Conorâs buddy and not taking the opportunity to cash out.
Well shit, see how artem sells a whisky and see if itâll even make a million
Well, it seems this should be a pretty easy case. Either he has a written contract he is owed 5%, or he does not,
This is also the perfect time for Needleshaw to troll him by telling mcgregor he had a âsnake in the grassâ in his camp.
Sounds like an ambulance chaser came knocking on Artemâs door after his interview back in August. His interview does detail that it seems he did most of the work to get it off the ground.
What will be interesting to see if it indeed proceeds is, how much exactly Conor made from the deal and who all is involved. It may be so embarrassingly low - certainly not the 600 million always thrown around - that he decides to settle before his true net worth is exposed.
Itâs definitely in the court system.
https://www.csol.ie/ccms/highCourtSearch.html?execution=e1s1
CONOR MCGREGORâs ownership of Proper No. Twelve Whiskey recently came to an end.
Earlier this month, Mexican tequila company Becle completed a takeover of the brand the UFC superstar helped create.
He thought Conor would take him with him based on goodwill. He was wrong now he wants some coin
Since Conor was the #1 promoter of the brand, why would any owner want him out? Iâd want him part owner so that he continues his marketing.
Conor McGregor has reacted to Artem Lobovâs lawsuit against him.
Earlier this week, it was revealed that Artem Lobov decided to pursue legal action in order to claim what he feels is a deserved cut of the profits from Conor McGregorâs Proper No. Twelve whiskey brand.
The 36-year-old has most recently competed as a bare-knuckle boxer, but during his MMA career he was well-known for being a close friend and training partner of the former two-division UFC champion.
Lobov competed on McGregorâs team during Season 22 of The Ultimate Fighter, where he eventually lost to Ryan Hall in the finals before going on to have a seven-fight run in the UFC.
The two SBG Ireland-trained fighters have been close friends throughout their fighting careers. (Zuffa LLC)
Following his exit from the promotion, âThe Russian Hammerâ hung up his gloves but stayed active in combat sports by going 2-1 for Bare Knuckle FC in 2019.
Back in August, the 36-year-old claimed in an interview with talkSPORT that he was the one who inspired the creation of Proper No. Twelve whiskey, which has become McGregorâs primary business venture outside of his fighting career.
Lobov was apparently offered a sum of money from the Irishman for helping to get the idea off the ground, but the Russian-born fighter refused the money at that time.
Conor McGregor Responds To Artem Lobovâs Lawsuit
Saturday morning, Conor McGregor responded with Artem Lobovâs lawsuit with a jingle. After careful analysis of the elaborately composed lyrics, we at MMA News have decided to name the previously untitled piece, âArtem Is A Rat.â And it goes a little something like thisâŠ
âArtem is a rat-at â nah-nah, nah-nah, hey! Nah-nah, nah-nah, hey! Artem is a rat-at! Nah-nah, nah-nah, hey! Rat!â
It appears as though this falling out isnât âonly businessâ and that the personal relationship between the two could be permanently damaged. Then again, perhaps that is to be expected when there is an eight-figure lawsuit pending between the two parties.
Lobov Seeking Up To $30 Million
According to the report from The Irish Independent, Lobov is looking to claim a significantly larger sum than what he was previously offered from McGregor.
âWe have issued High Court proceedings on his behalf to enforce an agreement with Mr. McGregor regarding the Proper No. 12 whiskey brand,â Lobovâs lawyer said. âMy client was the initial creator and co-founder of the concept to launch an Irish whiskey brand associated with Mr. McGregor. As these matters are now before the court, we will not be making any further comment.â
Lobov claims he was the one who came up with the idea for McGregorâs Proper No. Twelve brand. (The Sun)
âThe Notoriousâ and two shareholders sold their majority ownership of Proper No. Twelve in April 2021 for a figure that was estimated to be worth around $600 million. Lobov is looking to claim 5% of the profits from that sale, which could net the 36-year-old up to $30 million.
âThe Russian Hammerâ teased in his August interview that he would be releasing a new book detailing his career and relationship with McGregor, including the story of how Proper No. Twelve was conceived.
The book still doesnât have a release date after being teased for late 2022, so fight fans will have to wait for whatever details it may reveal about Lobovâs motivations for suing his former friend and teammate.