ARTEM FIL OF CONFIDENCE
ARTEM LOBOV turned down the opportunity to face Andre Fili earlier this year so he could dedicate himself to preparing teammate Conor Mcgregor for a bout with Floyd Mayweather and he believes that could pay dividends tonight in Poland. After being embedded with Mcgregor for his training camp against the boxing great, Lobov expects to show some new savvy with his hands when he finally faces Fili (right) tonight at UFC Gdansk. “My boxing has improved a lot,” said Lobov. “It’s very hard to isolate one of the art forms when you’re constantly preparing for fights. During the Mayweather camp, I was able to work on my boxing a lot. “From the technical aspect to building boxing stamina, I’ve picked up a lot of things. That will allow me to control the fight a lot more and not get tired. That’s been very important to me and I can feel the difference already.” The talk around SBG is that Lobov has significantly increased his grappling prowess too, but that won’t stop him from engaging Fili on his feet at the Ergo Arena. “I’m in this sport because I want to fight, so that’s what I do. I walk in there and I fight,” Lobov said. “I go out there like my opponent has just insulted my girlfriend and I have to slap the head off him to teach him a lesson.” Lobov expects Fili to meet him in the middle of the Octagon and trade blows, rather than go to ground. “I do think he will exchange strikes with me. If you look at his fights that’s what he does,” he said. “Even though he’s from Team Alpha Male, he’s a striker. He’s faced some good strikers in the past and he kept it on the fight against them. I expect this to be a stand-up fight.”