Transcription
I know that that fight baroner because he didn't train at all for that fight. Twice a week he was training for Kabib.
Let us move along to our next guest. So very exciting to talk to this man. It has been, as the kids say, a minute since we last spoke to him. It's been several years to be exact. And uh quite frankly, when I started the week, didn't think that he'd be on this Tuesday, but then we woke up on Monday and saw a post that he was returning to MMA for the first time in 7 years, fighting this October under the PFL umbrella in Abu Dhabi against his old bitter rival Zubra Tahug. It is the goat himself, the pride of both Russia and Ireland. the Russian hammer himself, Ardam Lobov, is he actually here? I don't believe it. There he is. Ardam.
Yes, boys.
Welcome back.
Thank you so much. It's good to be back and great to see you, Ariel.
It's wonderful to see you. Thank you so much, Ardum. It's uh it's so great to have you back. It's so great to talk to you again. And so, is this in fact true? You essentially broke the news. Is this true? Are you coming back in October?
Yeah, absolutely. Uh well when I was uh signing the contract uh with Mike Kogan, you know, he told me that look Artum, you can start, you know, promoting the fight. You know, this is a big fight for us. We we want to, you know, see you promote it the way you can, you know, get it all out there. So I said, look, as as soon as I sign my contract, I'm going to announce it and start promoting it, which is what I done. You know, I signed the contract and straight away I I pumped it out there and let the world know that this fight is finally happening. Uh yeah, and I can't wait to to get my hands on him finally.
Okay. And so are you coming back, Ardum, because it's Zubra or were you always planning on coming back and they were able to make this fight?
You know, uh if you recall the last time, the last interview I've ever done, it was with you, you know, when I was retiring and I told you, you asked me, Arjam, is there any way you will come back? Is this going to be a fake retirement like many that we see or is this a real retirement? Are you going to be back very soon? And I told you Ariel, there's only two things that can get me back. If they if I get offered seven figures or it's a fight against Tugaf and I said that the fight against him is definitely going to happen. Said no matter what, I'm going to make that fight happen. It's going to take place and we're going to settle the score. So this exactly what happened here. You know, I felt this was the right time. You know, I'm not getting any younger and I didn't want to wait any longer because then it just would be ridiculous. You know, two lads in wheelchairs, you know, trying to fight.
So I said, "Right, let me do it." You know, but you know, I have been in talks with different promotions, especially from Russia. You know, I've had a few offers, but I just didn't really, you know, it didn't ignite the fire in me and the offers weren't big enough. So, I was turning them down. Uh, however, once I realized there's a possibility for me to fight the Hugov, I was, you know, the fire was was lit up again and and I was ready to go.
So, so we last spoke January 5th, 2022. That's your last interview?
Yeah. Yeah, that was it. I just done an interview with you and that was it. I did not do any more interviews. I didn't do any media. That was it. I just kind of,
you know.
So, what have you been doing the last three and a half years?
Yeah. So, when I when I retired, I knew already I was going to be working with my friend uh in the UK. You know, he's got a construction company. Uh he's always going to support me throughout my fighting career. And I knew there was a job for me with him, you know, when I retired. So that's I've just been normal, you know, uh uh wage life, you know, it's which is which isn't good in some sense. You know, it's it's a lot quieter. It's a lot more kind of stable. But I'm not going to lie, you know, I did find it a little boring sometimes and I did struggle, you know, when I be watching the events and you know, I'm not going to lie, I did definitely miss fighting. So once this fight was announced, you know, once I saw that I can fight again, I'm not even joking. like something just you know inside me just changed you know I feel this burn again this fire this excitement a little nervous you know but you know I feel alive again it's honestly it's good that I've decided to do it uh, you know I think if I haven't done it I would always be regretting it and yeah I can't wait to put on a good show for the fans and and um, you know, get my hands on to Hugo and and finally, you know, show him what what what can happen when it's just one-on-one me against him.
And and so Are you leaving that job or are you just taking a break and then returning after this?
Taking a break. Just going to take a break now uh for you know obviously camp. I'm taking this camp very seriously. So I'm not going to be doing any work. I'm just going to be you know fully concentrated on the camp training twice a day doing loads of sparring planning to go up to Belfast to Spark Paul Hughes and the boys there. They've been kind enough to to give me an invite you know. So um got a lot of good sparring partners here as well. reach a small obviously you know as BG Ireland my home be doing a lot of training there as well so yeah no I'm going to leave no stone and turned uh don't don't be distracted by a few gray hairs in my in my uh beard and mustache you know the hammer is still uh ready to go and uh, you know my testosterone is is as high as ever.
I love it I love it so uh are you coming back for just one fight is it just this one and then you're done or are you are you open with others?
You know I'm not really Sure. To be honest, in terms of professional MMA, uh potentially maybe one and done, but I wouldn't mind, you know, getting into some of them celebrity boxing, you know, shows that Jake Paul and the Misfits have been organizing, you know, the the money seems to be really good there. The events are always massive, a lot of viewership, you know, uh big numbers, always sold out events. Um so I I wouldn't mind, you know, doing something like this potentially, you know. Also, I'm planning to have a bigger family now. You know, we're hoping to have another kid soon, trying for another baby, so I need a bigger house.
Love it. Love it.
So, definitely uh definitely um I think I'm going to have another one or two fights, but this is first, you know, I got to get to Hogaf out of the way. It's been bothering me all these years. It's a fight that I've been thinking about so much. Um and I I just have to do it, you know. I I can't I can't I feel I can't move on otherwise. I need this fight to be able to move on in my life.
Okay. So, The whole incident between the two of you happened seven years ago, right? More than seven years ago at this point.
Yeah.
Why does it still bother you so much? Why is there still this animosity?
Well, if you remember, you know, initially Kabib approached me alone. It was just him and me and him spoke and we sorted everything. You know, he said to me, "Listen, why are you talking [ __ ] about me?" I said, "Look, you know, if somebody called, you know, your friend the names that you've been calling, you know, Conor chicken and all this, which I told you before in Russian, it's a lot more severe." I said, "Listen, if somebody was calling your friend that, you for sure would respond. So, how what do you think I'm going to do? You leave me no choice by talking like this." Especially, we've been so friendly with him all the time, you know, meeting at different events, always shaking hands, you know, Conor never went at Kabib, you know, Kabib was the one that initiated this, you you know. So I said I had to reply and he said ah whatever just don't say anything else and he walked off that was it but then he came back with a with a gang of people and suddenly he had the exact same question again and I was a bit confused like what's going on me and you just sorted it two of us one on one and now with with the 10 guys with you you suddenly have more questions for me and of course if you recall to Hugaf was there very vocal, you know, he was screaming at me saying oh why don't you say no to my face so well let's go to Hugov oneonone and I will say it to your face you Obviously, as you know, you know, to hug outside of the cage, you know, you're not going to mess with him too much because as he himself many times mentioned, he's a relative of uh the Cheshan president Raman Kaderov, you know, and this man is not to be messed with. He is very well respected and feared, you know, uh in Russia and across the globe, you know. So, of course, you know, I can't there's nothing I can do outside, you know. And to be honest, I don't want to live that life, you know, messing outside, you know, [ __ ] up your life, end up in prison or in hospital. who wants that? So, let's do it like real man, one-on-one, you know, because he talked to big game, but when I watched that his fights, he doesn't look that brave in his fights, you know, a lot of the time he backs off, looks for wrestling all the time, you know, he taps out. You're talking to a man that never tapped out. Talking to a man that never pulled out of a fight, you know, and I accepted the fight against anyone, anytime, any place. So, um, you know, I said, let's let's get in the cage and settle it settle it like professional fighters that we are.
And you were supposed to fight in October of 2018, right? Just a few weeks after Connor's fight against Khabib and then it got it got cancelled. And that was because of the whole melee that happened afterwards, right? That was the UFC decision.
Exactly. Exactly.
Right. Um
Exactly. And that's another reason, you know, I mean, just even there, you know, what is he doing, you know, to hook like you're jumping into the cage of a fighter that just had a fight is exhausted, you know, uh and you're jumping with a big gang of you and you're so brave and, you know, attacking him, you know, come on. That's that's not a way to behave, you know, uh, you know, you want to jump like this and be aggressive. Well, let's go. We're going to fight no one-on-one and let's see how aggressive he will be. I bet you he'll be wrestling from the from the changing rooms. You know, he'll be just holding me down and he won't want to fight. He won't want to engage. But this is your chance. You know, you came in with punches at corner. Well, let's say you come with punches at me now.
Were there any other um talks, opportunities brought to your attention about fighting him since then? since that fight that got cancelled. Since you left the UFC, was this ever close to happening in the past seven years?
No. No, there hasn't been because obviously if you recall, he was in the UFC still, but he was suspended for a year.
Yeah.
He decided to remain in the UFC. And for me, I was like, I just I had a kid on the way and I needed to be making money, you know? I wasn't sure what's going to happen with the UFC. Are they going to when are they going to give me another fight? And I had a massive bare knuckle contract on my table. So I said, "Look, I'm not waiting a year for him and I wasn't even sure if he was going to be allowed to fight back." You know, I didn't know what was going to happen. So I left the UFC, went bare knuckle, he stayed in the UFC, so then that was not possible, you know. Um, Yeah.
Is this fight happening at 165?
Yeah. So I I said, "Listen, I'll accept any terms." I said, "For me, I want that fight no matter what." So they came back with 165. I said, "No problem. Make it 175 if you want. 185. I don't care. Um. Yeah. 165.
Yeah. I remember you telling me that you would fight him even for free. I hope you're getting paid for this.
Yeah. To be honest, that's that's how the conversation went with Mike. Mike said, "What what do you want? What kind of pers do you want?" I said, "Listen, Mike, I don't care. I have zero here. I don't care about this, you know." Uh, but he was saying, "Look, I I can't I can't uh do it free, you know. It has to be some person. He's giving me some person. I didn't negotiate at all. I just whatever." But you know the good thing I will be able to uh pay my team you know obviously my coaches going to do good work so you know I'll be able to pay them and I'll make a nice donation as well to a kids charity you know so it's you know some good will come of it for sure.
Okay. And and and have you seen him ever in any sort of like event street like have you guys locked eyes on each other since 2018?
Not really. No no I have not seen them at all anywhere. None of them really. Not not Kabib. not not Zara and none of them.
Any any concern about fight week. Um what are they saying, you know, just to make sure that nothing happens between the two of you before the fight, right? There's a lot of animosity here clearly. What are they saying as far as security and preventing things from happening?
Uh we didn't really talk with PFL about that, but you know, obviously let's let's do it in the cage. You know what I mean? any any attempt to try and jeopardize the fight, you know, to me, I see what this is, you know, trying to get out of the fight. Come on, make it to the cage and let's go. You can be as aggressive as you want in there. You can do whatever you want in there. You know, let's go. Uh, you know, this this your chance. Well, what is there need to jump outside the cage and then say something when we have a fight scheduled? You know, I'm ready to fight you. I'm showing up. You know, just show up and that's it.
One fight deal with PFL.
Yeah. One fight deal.
In Dubai.
Yeah,
in Dubai. Yeah. To be honest, Dubai is sounds like a good location, you know, to fight. It's I've been there before just for a holiday. It's a beautiful, beautiful place, you know, and uh it's it's going to be good. I'm sure there's going to be a lot of, you know, Russian fans. There's going to be a lot of Irish fans. Uh so be more pro Zubra. Uh I think over there might be 50/50 because obviously you know Paul Hughes is also on the card. Um and Kayen Lachlan as well is is on the card. So you know there's going to be a lot of Irish fans for them also there who I think would support me. There's going to be a lot of Russian people supporting me as well. So I'd say it's going to be even off. I don't know but that's that's kind of my just my kind of thoughts on that.
Okay. Um and and and as far as training is concerned, uh you mentioned SPG, your old mates. Are are you are you still being trained by John Kavanagh?
Well, John is not really he doesn't really coach as much anymore. You know, you rarely, you know, he's not as much there. There's different coaching now for MMA team. Uh, but I definitely will be doing work with, you know, Narius there who is a jiujitsu coach there. He's excellent, you know. Uh uh David Jones, you know, my my boxing coach, he's definitely going to be doing work with him in SBG. Dan actually uh my good old friend Johnny is back as well. So, he said he's going to help me out uh, you know, working on some of my kicks, you know, and surprise Zubay with a couple of, you know, tricks up my sleeve. Uh, and as I mentioned, you know, I'm hoping to go up to Belfast, you know, for some good sparring with the boys up there. You know, they have a really, really good team now. They're very strong fighters. I mean they've always had but I think they've kind of picked now, you know, they're at the top now so will be very good to mix in with them and and, you know, sharpen the tools, you know, against the top level guys. I've seen how Paul Hughes done against the last fight, you know, I, you know, it was very close fight but in my opinion Paul won, you know, so for sure this is high high level, you know, uh high high level fighter and, you know, that's exactly the kind of fighter that I want to work with, you know.
So we talking a few minutes ago with your old friend PT Carol as well, Ardam, who you know very well, um about the history of this feud and obviously a lot of it centered around what happened between Connor and Khabib and an unfortunate you know byproduct of all of this is that, you know, unfortunately you and Connor aren't as close as as you once were and we were sort of talking and reminiscing about how close you used to be, how you were the best of friends, training partners, how you always supported him and he always supported you and it was really, it really felt like a loving and genuine friendship that you had. I remember seeing you at Maymax showing up the night before like you said, you wouldn't have missed it for the world and uh not not wanting to relitigate everything that happened between you two, but it is it is sad to see. I think uh a lot of your fans and his fans would say that. Could you tell us where do things stand between you and Connor from a from a personal and a legal standpoint because it has spilled into the uh the courts, so to speak?
Yeah, unfortunately obviously things are not good between me and Connor, you know. Um, as you said, we always had each other's back. You know, I I I feel I showed him unmatched loyalty. You know, I would I would I would dare for him to name anyone from all of his mates. Now, before, whenever, who was more loyal to him than I was, you know, I did everything for him. Whenever we would do camps, I was the only one to never accept the scent from him. You know, there would always be money paid to everybody that done the camps. And rightfully so, you know, because it was hard work. Uh, but I would always turn it down and say, "Conor, I'm not taking this. You know, you're my brother and I'm not taking, you know, money for training for you." The agreement has always been that if I help him, you know, with business, I help him make money, well, then he's going to give me my cut. And in the past, when I've done deals for him, like, for example, I done a deal with him with Match TV. Uh, and, uh, he was he was on based on our agreement, he was meant to pay me six grand and he actually paid me 20,000. You know, he always looked after me. there's never been an issue, you know, with money with us and uh for this, you know, deal as well, whiskey deal, it was so, you know, this was such a massive deal for me, such an important, you know, uh deal for me because, you know, people think, oh, whiskey, what's whiskey? Just, you know, drink, but not at all. If you look historically, Irish whiskey has been such an important product for Ireland, you know, back in the day they used to during the prohibition era, they would um, they would sell Irish whiskey to us in exchange for weapons so they could fight for their freedom. Imagine how notorious is that. And even back in the day also, you know, when Ireland was England was suppressing them all the time and destroying them and, you know, they didn't have anything, but they never gave up and whiskey was helping them fight that fight, you know, because they had no medication here. No, nothing. That's why it was called the water of life because if you get a cut or something, you know, you can die from infection. But you use whiskey, you disinfect yourself. Food poisoning. You drink a little whiskey, it will help with settle the stomach. If you got high fever, you know, you you spread whiskey all over you and as it evaporates, it cools down the body, you know, and also when they were sitting, you know, around fire, no 800 years of war, no chance of winning this massive enemy, you know, they would drink a little bit of whiskey, it would warm the heart, sing a few ballads, you know, and get the the power to continue the fight, you know, to not give up and earn their freedom, you know. So when I told this to Connor, you know, uh he he told me to go and see what can I get, you know, and I did not leave a single stone unturned. At the time when I put the whiskey together, there was actually only six uh companies that were able to produce their own whiskey, you know, and I could see the potential in it because Irish whiskey sales were fast approaching scotch whiskey sales. However, there was only six uh factories making six distilleries making Irish whiskey and 144 distilleries making Scotch whiskey. So I could clearly see there was a massive massive gap in the market, you know, and uh most importantly when I tried to do the the the whiskey at the time despite being such a big gap, entry-level whisies did not perform well at all on the market. It was only the higher level whisies, you know, the top shelf as you want to call them. So whenever I was approaching all these industry experts and different distilleries, they all pushed for Connor to do an expensive whiskey. However, I understood Connor's fun base. I understood that it needs to be entry- levelvel whiskey, you know, and it took a lot of convincing from my part to make sure that we're doing entry- level whiskey. And what you get with entry- level whiskey is number one, you get the volume because entry- level whiskey is what gets used to in cocktails, in, you know, if you mixer, you know, whiskey in Coke or whatever. So, you get the volume and that's where the price of the company comes from. That's why right now it is valued at nearly $2 billion, you know, and with the entry- level whiskey, it gives you an opportunity to build on that. If you release an expensive whiskey, you can never then release a cheaper one. Say, "Oh, look, we have this cheap one." However, if you start entry level, you can then release 8-year-old, 10 year old, 12 year old and bit build it into standalone uh successful company. And that is exactly what happened, you know. Uh, and it's unfortunate that, you know, this this situation happened like this with me and Connor. You know, I I have a feeling that, you know, my personal opinion is that manager had something to do there as well because at the time they were trying to get Connor to sign this option as we all know that Connor does know the whiskey now and I was very much against it because what an option means is that if the whiskey fails, that means Connor gets nothing. If however is massive success as it is, his uh profits are limited to what the strike price is on the whis on on the option. And I was so against that. I was like, why would he do that? That's a lose-lose situation for Connor. He's the aside in this. And I said, if we are going to sign an option, well then let's at least do it for a market rate. Why is the strike price on the option below the market rate? Like that makes no sense. Why do you want to agree right now before it's even launched to to sell it in a few years time below the market rate? Especially when we already had pre-orders for the whiskey before it even launched, you know. So obviously I was fighting for every cent for Conor, you I was I was I was so so you know angry with Audi, you know, for proposing this this this bad deal for Connor, you know, and I feel that's where our, you know, uh relationship failed, you know, and unfortunately, yes, I did get [ __ ] over on this deal, even though Connor shook my hand and promised me 5% no matter what, but I guarantee you I can't wait to be in court and show that Connor was actually proper [ __ ] on this deal, you know, and this is why I have to go to court. I cannot leave this like this, you know, this is too big of a story to just let it die out in the in uh, you know, obscurity. I need to shine light on this and show who was a true and loyal friend and who was actually a snake.
And and you and I appreciate that response. I appreciate uh the backstory as well. Thank you for that Ardum. Um your perspective is is appreciated. You're you're you're asking for 5% right? That's what you want. Your 5% share.
Yeah, because
And what does that equal to in your opinion? Is it 6 million? Okay.
I think it's I think 6 and a half million or 7 million. The thing is
because now when I launched this, you know, I also a lot I found a lot of stuff online and there was actually a guy involved in this deal as well. He was the guy responsible for preparing the label for the bottle that was shown at the Mayweather flight. Sean Pierce his name is. And this guy misspelled the word whiskey on it. So this guy can't even spell [ __ ] whiskey. And now I know that that guy sued audit. That guy got paid 4.5 million. and said that he was promised another five. So, he sued Audi for another five. So, you're telling me that some lad that can't even spell whiskey was promised 10 million. But me, Connor's brother, the guy that brought this deal to the table, you know what I mean? And was always loyal, never took a scent from Connor. And he wouldn't and he wouldn't pay me my share, you know, as was promised. I put the biggest piece of meat on Connor's table and he wouldn't cut me a tiny little slice so my family could eat, too. And so I saw recently, can you can you explain this to me? I'm not I'm not a legal expert. There was there was a a ruling about three or so weeks ago where the court said you now have to pay for the legal cost because of a mistake in the date of when the interaction happened.
No. No. So what happened was I I found more evidence that I really wanted to submit that obviously was helping my case.
Yes.
Um Connor's team tried to block that evidence because it was too close to trial, you know, but so we had to go into court and and and uh my lawyers had to fight his lawyers and I was allowed to accept evidence because the judge could see that this is real evidence. This is not some fake stuff. This is real and just unfortunate that I I found it so close to the trial, you know. So I got the new trial date, but the costs are all reserved till trial, you know. So the cost, you know, I don't have to pay any cost until the trial.
And when does the trial commence?
December.
9th of December.
9th of December. Okay. Um and and and have there been any talks of settling out of court, trying to avoid going to trial?
Uh not yet. No, not yet. You know, but for me, I want Listen, money, whatever money I want my recognition, you know. I'm I'm Listen, this whiskey never happens without Connor. Of course, that's why it was made for him, you know, but I'm also one of the co-founders, you know, and that's what I want to show on this court. I want to show all my work, you know, the amount of work I had to do for this for this whiskey, you know, uh to go to market is just incredible. And I had some very unique knowhow, you know, that as I said to you, the even industry experts, you know, didn't see the potential in entry- level whiskey because at the time any entry- level whiskey that was launched was flopping because Jameson was just taking up all the market share. But I could see based on Conor's fans, I could see, you know, how he relates to the fans. I could see his marketing power. Uh, and I knew that entry-level whiskey was the way to go. Uh, and I was absolutely right. And it didn't really matter in the end ultimately which whiskey, you know, they we went with because if you recall when it first launched, the whiskey got sold out immediately and people were trading on eBay empty bottles of whiskey. So they just cared about Connor and his name and his image and everything else, not really so much what's inside the bottle.
Are so would that suggest that you are not open to settling? You want this to go to court? You want you want to be vindicated?
Listen, there could be, but I would like some kind of acknowledgement, you know, like listen, we can I want, you know, because what really got, you know, if you recall, I was going to do a book, you know, I wanted to do a book because they literally just pushed me to the side. No recognition for me, no money, no nothing. So, I just wanted to do a book and write in the book everything, you know, that kind of went on and how I did the deal and how it all happened. So, then once this I announced the book, Connor contacted me and he was just saying to me, "Oh, you had nothing to do with the whiskey. what the [ __ ] have you ever done? You know, just completely turn on me, telling me all these things that I've never heard from him before. You know, as you've seen the messages I shared before, he was so always kind to me and saying, "Artum, you know, you're my brother. You always have my back with this whiskey and with this fight, you know, I'm going to look after you." So then he's telling me, "You have nothing to do with this. You didn't do any of the whiskey." And I was like, "Hold on a second. This is all my work. My work is all over this. How can you say this? How can you do this to me?" And uh I was still going to proceed with the book. However, when I met the lawyers to get some legal advice about the book, I was told straight away, listen, this book is never going to see, you know, the light of day. They just going to his lawyers, you know, and their lawyers are just going to, you know, bring you to court and you'll be fighting fighting. You're going to spend an absolute fortune on legal fees and, you know, the book is not going to come out for many, many years, and they're just going to basically destroy you. The only way for you to be able to do the book and be able to tell the full story of what actually happened is to go to trial in the high court because all the evidence that I give there is going to be protected, you know, and I will be able to do a book if I want to or whatever else afterwards, you know. So that's why I ended up in court.
And and you and I appreciate that response. I appreciate uh the backstory as well. Thank you for that Ardum. Um your perspective is is appreciated. You're you're you're asking for 5% right? That's what you want. Your 5% share.
Yeah, because
And what does that equal to in your opinion? Is it 6 million? Okay.
I think it's I think 6 and a half million or 7 million. The thing is
because now when I launched this, you know, I also a lot I found a lot of stuff online and there was actually a guy involved in this deal as well. He was the guy responsible for preparing the label for the bottle that was shown at the Mayweather flight. Sean Pierce his name is. And this guy misspelled the word whiskey on it. So this guy can't even spell [ __ ] whiskey. And now I know that that guy sued audit. That guy got paid 4.5 million. and said that he was promised another five. So, he sued Audi for another five. So, you're telling me that some lad that can't even spell whiskey was promised 10 million. But me, Connor's brother, the guy that brought this deal to the table, you know what I mean? And was always loyal, never took a scent from Connor. And he wouldn't and he wouldn't pay me my share, you know, as was promised. I put the biggest piece of meat on Connor's table and he wouldn't cut me a tiny little slice so my family could eat, too. And so I saw recently, can you can you explain this to me? I'm not I'm not a legal expert. There was there was a a ruling about three or so weeks ago where the court said you now have to pay for the legal cost because of a mistake in the date of when the interaction happened.
No. No. So what happened was I I found more evidence that I really wanted to submit that obviously was helping my case.
Yes.
Um Connor's team tried to block that evidence because it was too close to trial, you know, but so we had to go into court and and and uh my lawyers had to fight his lawyers and I was allowed to accept evidence because the judge could see that this is real evidence. This is not some fake stuff. This is real and just unfortunate that I I found it so close to the trial, you know. So I got the new trial date, but the costs are all reserved till trial, you know. So the cost, you know, I don't have to pay any cost until the trial.
And when does the trial commence?
December.
9th of December.
9th of December. Okay. Um and and and have there been any talks of settling out of court, trying to avoid going to trial?
Uh not yet. No, not yet. You know, but for me, I want Listen, money, whatever money I want my recognition, you know. I'm I'm Listen, this whiskey never happens without Connor. Of course, that's why it was made for him, you know, but I'm also one of the co-founders, you know, and that's what I want to show on this court. I want to show all my work, you know, the amount of work I had to do for this for this whiskey, you know, uh to go to market is just incredible. And I had some very unique knowhow, you know, that as I said to you, the even industry experts, you know, didn't see the potential in entry- level whiskey because at the time any entry- level whiskey that was launched was flopping because Jameson was just taking up all the market share. But I could see based on Conor's fans, I could see, you know, how he relates to the fans. I could see his marketing power. Uh, and I knew that entry-level whiskey was the way to go. Uh, and I was absolutely right. And it didn't really matter in the end ultimately which whiskey, you know, they we went with because if you recall when it first launched, the whiskey got sold out immediately and people were trading on eBay empty bottles of whiskey. So they just cared about Connor and his name and his image and everything else, not really so much what's inside the bottle.
Are so would that suggest that you are not open to settling? You want this to go to court? You want you want to be vindicated?
Listen, there could be, but I would like some kind of acknowledgement, you know, like listen, we can I want, you know, because what really got, you know, if you recall, I was going to do a book, you know, I wanted to do a book because they literally just pushed me to the side. No recognition for me, no money, no nothing. So, I just wanted to do a book and write in the book everything, you know, that kind of went on and how I did the deal and how it all happened. So, then once this I announced the book, Connor contacted me and he was just saying to me, "Oh, you had nothing to do with the whiskey. what the [ __ ] have you ever done? You know, just completely turn on me, telling me all these things that I've never heard from him before. You know, as you've seen the messages I shared before, he was so always kind to me and saying, "Artum, you know, you're my brother. You always have my back with this whiskey and with this fight, you know, I'm going to look after you." So then he's telling me, "You have nothing to do with this. You didn't do any of the whiskey." And I was like, "Hold on a second. This is all my work. My work is all over this. How can you say this? How can you do this to me?" And uh I was still going to proceed with the book. However, when I met the lawyers to get some legal advice about the book, I was told straight away, listen, this book is never going to see, you know, the light of day. They just going to his lawyers, you know, and their lawyers are just going to, you know, bring you to court and you'll be fighting fighting. You're going to spend an absolute fortune on legal fees and, you know, the book is not going to come out for many, many years, and they're just going to basically destroy you. The only way for you to be able to do the book and be able to tell the full story of what actually happened is to go to trial in the high court because all the evidence that I give there is going to be protected, you know, and I will be able to do a book if I want to or whatever else afterwards, you know. So that's why I ended up in court.
Other than that conversation that you just spoke of, have you had any sort of interaction with Connor? Have there been any attempts to try to fix this just between the two of you, two old friends?
No. And that's and that's another reason where it tells me that he knows that, you know what I mean, that that I'm in the right and he [ __ ] me over because he went on Twitter, slayed me, but never even sent one text or just a call saying, "Hey, what's going on? Let's sort it." Because he knows, you know, what what can he tell me? He knows I done it. He knows how much work I have put in. He knows he shook my hand and promised me 5% no matter what, you know. So that's why he never tried to contact me. He just went on Twitter and slayed me. You know what I mean? publicly try to you know basically bully me out out of court or or whatever else he was trying to do there with that, you know, but you know, he he should know that I I don't tap, you know, and that's that's one of the reasons why he was my such a good friend and why he respected me for those exact qualities, you know, so how does he now expect me to to just, you know, back down here and he himself was then, you know, giving out to me for kind of backing down against Kabib, you know, and I said, listen, that was a mistake of mine, you know, I, I will never allow that to happen again, you know, and I stay by my word. So, how did he want me to back down this time? No, I told him myself I would never back down again. And I'm sticking to my word, you know, I have to fight till the end. I'm not a guy to tap.
And so, going back to the the training camp, going back to SBG, are there any sort of interactions with him? Has this caused any sort of rift for you at the gym?
No, I mean at the gym we just kind of, you know, I train at the gym, you know, we don't I don't really see him at the gym, you know, he he's not really as much there. He's traveling or, you know, he trains at the house as well. He's got his own gym in the house, you know, don't really see it, but you know, I don't really we don't really see each other, but it hasn't really created any issues in the gym. No, everyone just kind of cuz listen, you know, obviously everyone is his friend, but they're also all of my friends. you know, they know that I'm not I'm not a guy that, you know, ever, you know, was after money or whatever. You know, everybody knows that I'm a guy that never took a scent from him, that I always had his back. Even this situation with Kabib. Why did I end up in that situation? Because there was an interview in Russian and they were asking me about some of the horrible stuff that Kabib said about Connor, you know, and this was in Russian. I could have very easily just said something, you know, nice and just, oh, whatever. Connor would have never seen it. It's in Russian. But not a chance. If you're my brother, I have your back. whether you see it or not, you you never have to question my loyalty. I will never allow anybody to go at you, you know, and that's what happened there, you know, and I would do the same 100 times over, even after everything that's happened to me as a result, you know, he had my back and I always had his.
A lot has obviously happened with Connor over the last few years and uh he's making this push now to be to be elected to be a part of the uh the next elections in Ireland. What do you make of this?
Yeah, I mean Conor was always after those kind of, you know, crazy achievements, but in my mind, he needs to just stop all the messing, all the partying, get back in the gym, and just get fit, you know, just real training, you know, [ __ ] all this, you know, pretend training or whatever. Yeah, do a little bit of this, a little bit of that just to show I'm doing some training. No, let's do real [ __ ] training. And to me, I think the way forward is grappling, you know? He should start with grappling. just grapple, you know, because grappling is fun and it will get your body, your ligaments, everything ready for fight again. His his body is not fight ready anymore, you know, it's just all the ligaments, all the little muscles, everything in your body, you know. It's it needs to be fight ready. And I think jiujitsu will allow you to do that in a safe environment because jiujitsu is very safe in terms of injuries, you know, it's fun, you know, and uh and to me, he should spend a few weeks first just grappling, you know, start with five five fives grappling five days a week, then build it up slowly up to 10 fives a day, you know, and then from there, I guarantee you once the fitness come back to him, then he will start the the love for fighting will come back to him and he will want to be in the gym and he will want to add the sparring, he will want to add the wrestling and everything else. Um, so that's what I would like to see him do. Not [ __ ] all this presidential runs and all that can be done down the line, you know, but right now he just needs to get his mojo back, get his confidence back, remove the doubt because doubt is only removed by action. Action of training hard, you know, sparring the best guys out there. you know, when I was there in his camp, that was always there was not a chance Connor could have gotten away with being unfit, you know, not not that I'm something special or whatever, but it's just because I was never going to take it easy with him and he knew that. So once he enters to spire me, he has to be on point. He has to be in shape. Um, yeah, you know, so I I hope to see him back in shape.
You know, you know what's so fascinating about this, Ardum? Even when you were talking about him getting back on track, you said the word we. Even as you're talking about him here and and obviously there's a lot of people criticizing him and and and and he has given people reasons to criticize him. You take no shots at him. You don't hit him below the belt. It almost seems genuine in that you want to see him get back to his old self or at least attempt to get back to his old self. despite everything that's happened between you two, it doesn't feel like there's any real animosity from you to him or at least you're doing a great job of not letting it show here because I don't feel that I I I I feel genuine warmth from you as you talk about him despite this legal battle that you've been involved in that's lasted a couple years now.
Yeah, I feel that if this was Connor of uh before, you know, the guy that I know, you know, we we wouldn't have fallen out, you know, and now it's completely different Connor. I don't recognize him. Just even to remind you when he fought Mendes for the for the belt, you know, he he messed up in in the documentary, they didn't actually show the the full truth because he messed up his knee with training with Rory Macdonald. I was there in in Canada, you know, when it happened when Rory Connor took him down and Rory jumped Caesar, you know, sweep right on his knee and the crack was so loud. You know, I was there when uh Professor Elatrash uh rang us and said, "Conor, you're not fighting. You need another year, potentially two years, and another surgery." And Connor just said, "No, [ __ ] this. I'm fighting." And put the phone down. We we couldn't even train for the camp. You know, he was just doing rehab the whole time. And then in the documentary, they show when his knee went, that's actually the second knee. That's actually the good knee that went. So, his was messed up with that knee and one knee. And as we were training, doing grappling with like three or four weeks left to the fight, he messed up his other knee. His MCL and miniscus went in his other knee. So now he was on no legs, you know, he had zero legs. He was on one leg and now suddenly on zero legs. Then Mendes gets put in against rather than Aldo, a wrestler. We couldn't wrestle at all in camp. So this was just the the worst fight you could possibly imagine. And what does he do? I'm fighting. I don't give a [ __ ] And now what the corner what? He didn't even make it to the press conference with the sore toe. That's not the same corner. This is not the guy that I know. I want to see the old one back. You know what I mean? And then I feel everything would be sweet between us as well, you know, and we could get, you know, the band back together. I would love to see him come back because I feel that if he was at 100%, we would be able to bring Kabib back as well. I think that Kabik would come back for that fight if Connor was 100% and fit and, you know, making making real, you know, moves, making real fights, you know, he just need one fight, knock the guy out, and then the whole world will be, you know, talking to Khabib and getting him to come back and then we would do a real, you know, uh, uh, you know, comeback fight that would be that would be a fight that for the ages. I can see I know that that fights corner because he didn't train at all for that fight. Twice a week he was training for Kabib, you know, and I tried to get him into Vegas. I said to him, "Conor, come on. Let's go to Vegas, man. We have to do it. Come on, brother." He said, "No, [ __ ] off. You just want to go on a horse." He just didn't want to do it. You know, he was in the wrong mindset. He was in a party mindset. You know, he was training twice a week. That's it. So, when I saw the fight, I was like, "Oh my god, if only you trained four times a week, you know, you probably would have beaten him." But imagine him with full cam, the the corner that fought Alvarez, you know, imagine that corner fighting Kabib. That's what I want to see.
Uh, two last quick things. art and brilliant stuff. Uh, any interest in going back to bare knuckle? He's now a part of that as well.
Well, actually, funny you say this now, Ariel. You know, there could be opportunity for me to come back for bare knuckle, but you know, bare knuckle still owe me money. You know, my fight with Paul Malinagi, I never got my pay-per-view money.
What?
You know, Felman announced that it made 200,000 pay-per-views and, you know, he told me first, look, you have to wait for the pay-per-view, you know, 8 months or whatever before we pay you. So, I waited that. Then I was messaging, messaging, messaging. He was like, "Oh, yeah. Yeah, sorry. We just forgot. We're going to pay you." Then I finally got my legal team to contact him. And what he said to my legal team was, "Look, we love it. You know, of course, we're going to pay him. Unfortunately, at this time, we've reinvesting all the money back into bare knuckle. We want to make it, you know, as big as possible. We have we're really riding a good wave. So, we need to continue reinvest once we finally are able to get some money out of it. Of course, we're going to pay him." So, I'm waiting for this. You know, I I think, you know, Dave is a man of his worth. I think he will pay me. It's about 300,000 that they owe me. It's not that big money, but it's pretty big. You know, once they settle that with me, of course, we can do a fight. No problem.
Okay. Wow. And that was from what uh 2019 20?
2019. Jeez. Do you think do you think that they are going to settle it? Do you I mean like
Well, that that's what he said. You know, I'm taking him by his word. You know, when he was talking to me, he was like, "Yes, Art. Sorry. Sorry." when I got my legal team to contact him, he he said what I just told you. They keep reinvesting money. He said, "I've put everything into this, you know, and it's it's been he says, "I've seen the results now." And I see that myself. They doing good and I understand how what it takes to build the business, you know. Uh, so I was like, "Okay, no problem. I will wait reinvest the money, but don't forget about me, you know. I I made a difference for that company, you know, I I I definitely put them on the map, you know. Uh, and this is something that we're agreeing on. It's in my contract and and I hope that, you know, Dave, uh, you know, is a man of his word and and and pays me my pay-per-view money.
October 3rd, Dubai, finally after all these years, Ardam Lob, the return against Zubra Tahug. What is the message to Zubara after all these years? Ardam, what do you want to say to this man as you are getting ready to fight him?
Uh, Zubayra, I hope you're as brave in there as you are when there's a gang of you against one, you know? I hope you bring this the same energy. Let's not start the cuddle party. You know what I mean? I don't want to be cuddling around the cage holding down. Let's fight. Mess up this face. Come on. This is bare knuckle king you're talking to here. I'm not afraid of of punches. I'm not afraid of blood. So, let's bleed. Let's have a proper fight. And look, if we get a real fight in, we shake hands afterwards, you know, but it has to be a real fight.
Love it. Freaking love it. Welcome back, Ardum. You're the man. They call you the goat. You are the freaking goat. Incredible stuff. All you know, not doing those interviews for three and a half years, you you you built up incredible energy and you saved it all for this moment and you knocked it out of the park, my friend. So happy to see you back. All the best to you. Good luck in training and can't wait to see you in there on October 3rd. Thank you again, Art. Really appreciate it and good luck.
Thank you so much, Ariel. Watch out for me. Choo choo, [ __ ]
There he is. Art of Lova. Choo choo, [ __ ] We got it. We got it. That's incredible stuff right there. Uh, what a surprise. I I got to tell you, when I started the week, I didn't think that we'd be talking to Artum Lob on a Tuesday afternoon at 3:45 about a fight happening in October against Zubar Dugov, but here we are. Thanks for watching this video. Before you go, if you haven't already, hit that subscribe button for us. Also, give us a thumbs up, leave a nice comment. These things go a long way. And while you're here, do check out the rest of the channel. We've got live shows and full interviews, clips, and a whole lot more. We're doing big things here and we appreciate your support very.