Russian teammate of Conor McGregor admits ex-UFC champ has ‘issues’ and urges him to stick with coach who ‘knows his every move’

Conor McGregor's friend, bare knuckle brawler Artem Lobov, has hit back at suggestions that the UFC legend should leave long-time coach John Kavanagh, adding that a lack of commitment has been behind some of his defeats.

Currently at a crossroads in his career, the Irishman is 3-3 in his most recent outings in the octagon and must beat Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 on July 10 to earn a shot at lightweight champion Charles Oliveira's crown later in 2021.

Describing McGregor as "loyal" and someone who would "never" leave his team, Lobov scoffed at suggestions that 'Notorious' needs a change of corner to get back on track and must leave the SBG Ireland gym. 

"Hold on, guys," Lobov told BJ Penn, adding that he will not be training with McGregor in Dubai because he is preparing for his own fight, returning for the first time in more than 18 months when he faces Denys Berinchyk for the Mahatch FC promotion.

"You mean leave the coach that helped him become the first-ever two-weight world champion?

"You mean that coach? The coach that helped him achieve something that nobody has achieved before? Is that the coach you want him to leave?

"Come on, now. Yeah, this is a f*cking tough game, of course. We all talked about this.

"Sometimes Conor maybe wasn’t committed, wasn’t training as hard as he should have. We know what the issues are. It has nothing to do with the coaches.

"Now he’s committed again, he’s training all the time and he’s with the right people. John Kavanagh knows his every move.

"To switch coaches – if I were to switch coaches, I wouldn’t fight for two years then. You need two years to really understand the coach."

Having beaten 'The Diamond' in 2014 on his phenomenal rise to becoming featherweight champion a year later, Lobov conceded that McGregor "probably didn't give Dustin the respect he deserved" ahead of their second meeting in January, which ended with his first knockout loss in the UFC.

"He was more thinking about boxing Manny [Pacquiao] after the fight and was getting ready for that, as Conor saw that as the challenge and Dustin was just going to be a warm-up fight," Lobov added.

"If you look at the second fight, it was developing how the first fight went. That is what I expected.

"The only thing that made a difference were the leg kicks. It wasn't that he wasn't training to defend leg kicks, but those kicks are very unique."

"When you spar in training and you wear shin pads, you don't feel those kicks and you lift your leg to check. However, in the fight, that doesn't work anymore.

"Conor is now aware of that and I see the fight going how it already was going and the way the first fight went.

"I see Conor stopping Dustin early in this fight. I see Conor stopping Dustin in the first round," Lobov predicted.

The 155lb division's former ruler Khabib Nurmagomedov, who beat McGregor in brutal fashion in 2018 when defending his belt, would certainly agree.

“It’s the same thing [as the previous fights]," he told UFC Russia.

“If it’s the first round [for a finish], I’d back Conor. From the second and further, then Dustin [wins].”