UFC featherweight Cub Swason believes the only reason Artem Lobov is in the UFC is because of Conor McGregor's success and popularity.
Lobov is a long time training partner of the UFC lightweight champion while McGregor and Swanson have a chequered history despite never having faced each other in the octagon.
Swanson and Lobov are due to meet in the main event of this weekend's fight night in Tennessee and speaking on the MMAhour ahead of the bout, Swanson said: "I don’t believe that talent-wise he shouldn’t be in the UFC, 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.
UFC Featherweight and Lightweight Champion Conor McGregor celebrates with Artem Lobov following his victory. Image: ©INPHO/Presseye/Matt Mackey
“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,” he added.
Lobov enters the contest with a record of 14-12-1 with 1 no contest but is on a two fight win streak having beaten Chris Avila and Teruto Ishihara towards the end of 2016.
Swanson is coming off the back of a fight of the night win against Dooho Choi as he looks re-establish himself in title contention at 145 lbs.
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