Conor McGregor’s former training partner and friend Artem Lobov is suing “The Notorious” for a stake in his Proper 12 whiskey brand. Lobov’s lawyer, Dermot McNamara, issued a statement announcing the suit.
McGregor recently sold his stake in Proper 12 for around $600 million. Lobov feels that he is entitled to five per cent of this sum.
Artem Lobov Sues McGregor For Millions
“My client is a retired professional fighter with a master’s degree from DCU in Finance and Capital Markets. We have issued High Court proceedings on his behalf to enforce an agreement with Mr McGregor regarding the Proper No. Twelve 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.”
McGregor and Lobov trained together at SBG Ireland. Lobov was involved in McGregor’s public feuds with Khabib Nurmagomedov and Paulie Malignaggi, and Conor’s own success was a major factor in Lobov’s ability to enter the UFC and gain a profile of his own. Whatever loyalty the pair once had to one another is now gone, as Lobov claimed that the idea for Proper 12 was all his. Lobov pointed out that he turned money down at the time, but has since changed his tune.
“I was the person who came up with the idea to do a whiskey for Conor. I said to him before you even look any further [about Vodka], ‘here’s what I know about Irish whiskey.’ I told him about my presentation from college. I told him about the dominance of Irish whiskey and all of that. He said, ‘you go off and see what deal you can put together’ and I went on my way.
I 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, ‘Conor, I have the deal ready for you. This is going to be a billion-dollar deal, no messing here.’ I’m not sure if he took me seriously or not at the time with the billion dollars.
Conor offered me $1M but I turned it down, I didn’t accept it. You know, throughout my career whenever I have helped Conor with camps, he offered to pay me for the camps, but I never accepted money from him.” McGregor’s camp flatly refuted the claim.
