- Artem Lobov is taking credit for the idea of McGregor’s Proper 12 whiskey.
- Lobov plans to write a tell-all autobiography to explain the story behind the idea.
Conor McGregor is the most famous MMA fighter on the planet. He was the first ever simultaneous “champ-champ” in UFC history and has found huge success in the sport. Even more notable perhaps is McGregor’s success outside the cage. The multi-millionaire has many businesses that have made him very rich, so rich that many believe he no longer needs to fight. One of his most lucrative businesses is his whiskey company, Proper No. Twelve.
McGregor released his Proper No. Twelve whiskeys back in 2018 when he was on top of the UFC’s lightweight division. He debuted it at the UFC 229 press conference and the drink later became an official sponsor of the UFC. Since that debut four years ago, McGregor has sold his majority share of the company for 6 million dollars. He is still a part of the business and is the face of the brand. The product is very successful but now another man besides McGregor is claiming he came up with the idea, that man is McGregor’s close friend Artem Lobov.
Artem Lobov Claims he persuaded McGregor from vodka to whiskey
Lobov and McGregor have been friends for a while. They worked together on The Ultimate Fighter and trained together at SBG gym in Ireland. Lobov explained recently in an interview with talkSPORT that he gave McGregor the idea for a whiskey company and that he will be releasing an autobiography to tell the story fully.
“The selling point of my book will be the Proper 12 Whiskey story. A few people know, but this was actually my idea. I was the person who came up with the idea to do a whiskey for Conor,” Lobov said. “After the second Diaz fight, me and Conor were in the gym and we were talking one day and he says to me, ‘Artem, Thor, – ‘The Mountain’ out of Game of Thrones – I was chatting to him, and he’s offered me [the chance] to do my own vodka. I said to him before you even look any further, ‘here’s what I know about Irish whiskey.’
Lobov claims he talked McGregor out of starting a vodka company and steered him towards Irish Whiskey. Lobov explained that he had learned about the whiskey business while in college and McGregor sent him on the task to figure out the logistics. From what he had learned in college and with a few people he knew, Lobov got the ball rolling and put a deal together.
Lobov stated that McGregor offered him one million dollars for his work in the whiskey business but he refused.
“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 them camps, but I never accepted money from him,” he said. “we’ve always been friends and helped each other. I never paid you for my camps so I’m not gonna accept money from you for my camps either.”
Lobov explained that he is working on an autobiography book that will tell the whole story, including if he was paid for his role in the business. He has been writing the book since he left fighting. Lobov last fought in the UFC back in 2018, and also had four bare-knuckle bouts, the last of which was in 2021.
