Artem Lobov was removed from UFC 223 because of his involvement in the incident at the Barclay’s Center.
UFC 223 was set to be a big ‘un for Artem Lobov. ‘The Russian Hammer’ was expected to receive a huge reaction from the Brooklyn crowd.
The Irish and Russian population in New York, coupled with his link to Conor McGregor, meant that he may have received a very warm welcome. Especially considering he was booked to fight Alex Caceres, a Miami native who despite being somewhat of a fan favourite, wasn’t the A side of that match-up.
His beef with headliner Khabib Nurmagomedov would have also put a magnifying glass on the bout. Whether or not a mostly pro-Nurmagomedov crowd would have got behind Lobov or not, remains to be seen. We may never find out.
UFC release 4 minutes of loading bay footage as Conor McGregor and crew smash bus uphttps://t.co/bVB3alXuC1
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) April 7, 2018
Eyes wide open
We’ve all seen the episode 5 of UFC 223 Embedded by now. We watched Conor McGregor square up to the red corner fighters’ bus, slam his hands on the window and shout, “Get out you mad rat!” It was hard to miss him screaming, ‘Smash the windows’ as security tried to hold him back. After all the chaos, he let out a guttural roar as he twirled around a bollard and made his exit with the rest of his crew.
The footage the UFC Embedded team got provided a way clearer picture of certain incidents that played out. For example, we got to see the expressions on the faces of all those who witness the dolly smash into the bus window. When McGregor lifted it over his head and charged for the vehicle, Lobov was running towards the crossfire.
As the dolly left McGregor’s hands, Lobov slowed down and his eyes widened as he watched its trajectory. His jog had slowed to a complete halt. He stopped dead in his tracks, his mouth flopped open and he rubbed his face.
Who knows what he was expecting to happen, but by the looks of it, he wasn’t expecting to see a dolly go through the bus window.
Surprised more people aren't talking about this #UFC223 pic.twitter.com/yjgLuf5UoT
— Ben Kiely (@TheJivemaster) April 7, 2018
