UFC Fans Point Out Team Khabib’s Unshakable Loyalty While ‘Fallen’ Conor McGregor Faces $6M Lawsuit from a Friend He Defended 7 Years Ago

As their rivalry continues to ensue to this day, the stark contrasts in the teams of Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor have also become noticeable to the public eye.

Nurmagomedov, who held a bitter and personal feud with McGregor during 2017-18, faced off with the Dubliner at UFC 229. Despite prevailing after a one-sided affair at T-Mobile Arena in Nevada, the two have been at loggerheads since.

Once offering each other their services to train together, Conor and Khabib’s feud’s inception involved the Dagestani slapping Artem Lobov, a close confidante of the Irishman. In fact, today is the infamous incident’s 8 year anniversary.

This resulted in a violent scuffle in which saw McGregor travel to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on April 5, 2018, during UFC 223 media day and launch a moving dolly through a bus window containing fighters. This would lead to months of back and forth between the two, eventually culminating in a fight in October.

Even the fight’s conclusion was followed by an all-out brawl between the two teams that had Islam Makhachev almost suspended from the promotion.

Eagle-eyed fans on social media have pointed to the stark change in teams between the two lightweight icons since then. For one, Nurmagomedov has been branded as “loyal” to his team. While McGregor has been involved in a slew of spats with former friends.

Interestingly, the Dubliner has fired at the likes of Lobov, as well as current OKTAGON MMA champion Will Fleury – Two stalwarts at Straight Blast Gym in his hometown.

Involved in a brutal lawsuit with Lobov over the inception of his Proper Number Twelve Irish Whiskey brand. McGregor found himself being criticized on social media tonight.

“7 years later, Khabib (Nurmagomedov) still has the same people around him,” A user on X posted on social media. “And Artem Lobov is suing Conor McGregor in court for $6 million dollars”, they added, pointing at the irony of the situation.

Revealing in 2022 how he encouraged McGregor to enter the whiskey business, Lobov had launched a lawsuit and claimed to have done the donkey work on the lucrative deal.

Lobov had asserted to be a founder of Proper Twelve, suing McGregor for $6 million in Irish courts.

According to reports, Lobov was seeking 5% of the $600 million McGregor earned from selling the whiskey to Jose Cuervo’s parent company last year. Lobov’s case was aimed to prove that the Irishman made a deal with him, which he had never honored.

In an interview, Lobov had claimed having told McGregor to get into the Irish Whiskey business, which at the time was a market practically cornered by Jameson.

In December 2023, Lobov had also shared a host of text messages between McGregor and himself that allegedly had the Irishman thank him for his role in the business and promise to share the profits with him.

While the ‘rat’ defamation lawsuit was dismissed with the judge ruling in McGregor’s favor, the Proper No. Twelver case is active in the Irish courts.