PFL Dubai Spotlight: Lobov Hoping to Settle the Score

Artem Lobov is relishing the chance to finally gain some closure this week.

Lobov (14-15-1 MMA, 2-5 UFC) will square off against Zubair Tukhugov (20-6-1 MMA, 5-3-1 UFC) at the PFL Champions Series event in Dubai on Friday, October 3.

The bout marks Lobov’s first return to mixed martial arts since parting ways with the UFC in 2018.

Although “The Russian Hammer” competed four times under the BKFC banner after leaving the UFC, he announced his retirement from combat sports in 2021. His return therefore comes as something of a surprise, given his lengthy absence.

Lobov admits the opportunity to face Tukhugov was too tempting to pass up. The two were secondary figures in one of the biggest rivalries in combat sports history when their teammates, Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov, clashed in 2018.

“This fight was meant to happen in 2018, you know?” Lobov told Fighters Only recently. “This is a big fight, (there’s) a lot of interest in this fight. We have to finish this chapter off. I said it all the way back in an interview with Ariel Helwani that this is a ‘must (happen)’ fight. It has to happen.”

Lobov and Tukhugov were originally scheduled to fight at UFC Fight Night 138 in New Brunswick, Canada, just three weeks after McGregor and Nurmagomedov clashed at UFC 229. However, when the lightweight title fight erupted into chaos with a post-fight brawl between both teams, the Lobov–Tukhugov matchup was scrapped due to safety concerns.

“It’s a very interesting fight for the public, for everyone, for ourselves,” Lobov said of this week’s fight. “I mean UFC had it as a co-main event in Canada. You know if the UFC has (it as) a co-main event, that tells you everything you need to know about the reach of this fight and the public interest in this fight. So we have to finally finish this off. There's no point in doing the talking, let's do the fighting. We're fighters. We've seen them approach me with 10 guys. So let's now see how it goes one on one.”