Cub Swanson is headlining this weekend’s UFC Fight Night 108 card, the opponent in that main event fight is Artem Lobov.
The featherweight contender is a firm believer that if it wasn’t for UFC Lightweight Champion Conor McGregor, then Lobov wouldn’t even be in the UFC.
“I don’t believe that talent-wise he shouldn’t be in the UFC,” he said on The MMA Hour. “I feel like with his record and things like that there are so many more deserving people to be in the UFC. So somebody else in that situation, if it wouldn’t have been for Conor, he would have had to stream together a lot more wins and do a lot more things. So I think people are pissed off about that. I particularly don’t like him for that. When you treat your career early on really crappy, you can’t expect to be in a good position. That’s just the way pro fighting is. So, I mean, I don’t think it’s a lack of skill set. I just think it was a lack of taking care of his record and doing all the things at the right time.”
Swanson currently holds a record of 1-1-0 in UFC main event fights, defeating Jeremy Stephens and suffering a defeat to Frankie Edgar.
Even though he doesn’t like the perceived way that Lobov got into the UFC, the featherweight brawler knows he is facing a tough opponent on Saturday Night.
“To me it’s just about going out and having a great performance,” he said. “It’s a chance for me to top my last performance. I know he’s tough. He’s a completely different style than my last fight, though he’s still a stand up guy. So I think it’s a chance for me to bring out the best of myself. I got to train for five [five minute rounds], so that made me push it beyond my last camp, and so basically I’m going to go out there and show the best version of myself, just try to show that I’m on another level.”
UFC Fight Night 108 takes place on Saturday, April 22 from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee with Cub Swanson and Artem Lobov headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event.
