Quotes from Artem Lobov

More and more Russians started watching the UFC when Conor came along. The more they watched, the more they understood it.

This isn't a very manly thing to do, not showing up for a fight.

I always seek the highest challenge, the biggest challenge.

I always seek the biggest challenge and MMA is the biggest challenge.

Get a boxer and get him wrestling for a minute or two - the arms get so heavy, filled with blood, they can't even hold them up any more, they can't box.

I'd be lying if I didn't tell you that money was a big factor in signing for Bare Knuckle - we're prize fighters, and our success is measured by the size of our purse.

They should bring up my record, and call it the fighter bible. The warrior bible. All those guys with padded records should read it everyday, and they should put my picture on their wall as the Jesus Christ of MMA.

When I was in the UFC I challenged some of the biggest guys in the world. When I was fighting in Europe I did the same.

I love fighting. It gives me a cheque to pay for my food and for my accommodation and that's great but I just love to fight.

It's not just boxing I'm considering, it's K-1 too. That's something I've always liked.

Obviously UFC was one of those kind of dreams that we weren't sure if we were ever going to reach, so for us, the biggest belt was the Cage Contender belt.

Guys don't want to take hard fights, they avoid any challenges, they take the easiest fights and then they get rewarded with a UFC contract. That's not right, that should never happen that way.

What do you call success in our sport? What determines success? Are you successful if you are 10-0 and no one is watching your fights? Is that success?

If a fight happens between Conor and Khabib in Russia, the support would be divided between them. It would be 50-50.

What Aldo is good at is the leg kicks, that's what oppened a lot of doors for him. He would land those leg kicks, and then the shot would come from there, but in terms of his hands, he doesn't have, I mean he has power, of course he does, but nowhere near the power that I have, I promise you that.

To me, KSW is a huge promotion and it's on my list of one of the things I want to do as an MMA fighter. I think that goes for any European fighter.

If people are watching your fights and they care about what you do then that is success to me. As far as I'm concerned, I am one of the most successful fighters in the world.

When you don't have to worry about the financial side, you can truly concentrate on the craft. You can truly concentrate on the fights you really want to have. You have that freedom and it's extremely important especially when you have a family and you have to provide.

I never pull out of the fights.

Conor knows how to fight and he knows how to box. He has been boxing professional boxers for his whole life, he has had almost 50 amateur boxing fights.

At the end of the day, we all need competitors otherwise there are no fights.

I've taken fights when others wouldn't.

I pride myself on having the most exciting fights ever.

There's a reason why MMA is only three five-minute rounds, or five fives when it's a title fight. MMA is so much more demanding on the body - the wrestling, the changing levels, all that takes a lot out of you. Boxing is a breeze for us after MMA.