UFC legend Nate Diaz was one of the first people to react when Conor McGregor called for a winning fight against Artem Lobov.
‘Notorious’ took to social media on Tuesday night to reveal his former friend was suing him for defamation after claiming Proper 12 Irish Whiskey was his idea.
“Artem is trying to sue me and my dad for defamation now too ahahaja oh lord god bless you,” McGregor tweeted.
“Artem, you look like a raw sausage of a thing. Jump on the pan for a minute, you look like a rough homie. God bless you, buddy.
The Irishman then added a voice note of himself singing ‘Artem is a waffle iron’ after chanting ‘Artem is a rat’ after learning his longtime partner was suing him for millions.
McGregor then returned to Twitter with another voice note, he said, “This is a call out to Artem ‘The F**** Fairy-Pad’ Lobov. I challenge you to a fight tonight, 10:30 p.m. I’ll meet you at SBG Concorde and we will fight for everything.
“You have lawyers texting me about defamation and all these lawsuits. You’re a little blouse, mate. I’ll see you at SBG Concorde tonight at 10 p.m. and we’ll fight for everything. Answer this call, little blouse!
Fans were immediately interested in the potential street fight and even McGregor’s rival Diaz took to social media to ask his followers, “So is Artem going to show up for the big fight or what ?”
The fight deadline has passed and McGregor has uploaded a photo of him outside SBG Concorde, but it appears Lobov hasn’t shown up as he is determined to take the matter to court.
‘The Russian Hammer’ claims he was central to the creation of Proper 12 Irish Whiskey before being kicked out of the business when it took off and made the Irishman big money.
“A few people know that, but it was actually my idea. It was me who came up with the idea to make a whiskey for Conor,” he told talkSPORT in August.
“Once the deal was ready, I went to Conor and said, ‘Conor, I’ve got the deal ready for you. This is going to be a billion dollar deal, no mess. I don’t know if he took me seriously or not at the time with the billion dollars.
“We kept working on it and as you can see it was a huge success. I’m really happy to see that and I’m really happy to be a part of it.
In April 2021, ‘Notorious’ and two other investors sold their shares in Proper 12 for $600 million [£503million] and the former two-weight UFC champion became the sport’s richest man as a result.
Last week, Lobov sued in the High Court and claims there was a deal that entitled him to 5% of the $180 million. [£151million] McGregor is selling.
Away from the commercial drama, the biggest star in MMA history is currently gearing up for his highly anticipated return to the UFC after being sidelined through injury since July 2021.
McGregor has gone from strength to strength during his absence from the sport and is expected to attempt a welterweight title run when he returns in 2023.
The 34-year-old says he will perform two tests with the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) in February and will look to book a fight in the division that houses Jorge Masvidal, Kamaru Usman and champion Leon Edwards.