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It was a busy weekend of bareknuckle combat this weekend as Artem Lobov and Olympic silver medalist in boxing Denys Berinchyk faced off in Mahatch FC, a rather unique bareknuckle fight promotion from Ukraine.
Three elements immediately jump out when you watch Mahatch FC: first, it’s bareknuckle. Second, fights take place in a sandbag ring. And third: jeans and sneakers are mandatory. Well, most of the time. For this one bout between Lobov and Berinchyk, standard boxing trunks were allowed.
By all accounts the fight was a violent affair with Lobov displaying his usual amount of blood and guts determination. But, as you might expect going into the fight, the Olympic boxer and current WBO International lightweight champion ended up getting the better of Lobov, knocking him down multiple times en route to the ref waving things off between the fourth and fifth rounds.
Watch the highlights here:
You can watch the whole Lobov vs Berinchik fight and Mahatch FC event replay on FITE TV here.
It's a dog fight between Artem and Berinchyk as expected but no surprise Denys is getting the better of these exchanges. Just got a standing 8 count in R3 after Artem was hurt bad to the body. #MahatchFC pic.twitter.com/nsJxQoqc7T
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) July 24, 2021
Lobov just getting mauled against the sandbags. Another standing 8 count in round 4. #Mahatchfc pic.twitter.com/zHnIDXeVSi
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) July 24, 2021
#lobovberinchik #MahatchFC pic.twitter.com/zpnZhJdpJn
— Artem Tsukur (@artemtsukur) July 24, 2021
According to Bruno Massami, Lobov announced he was retiring from fighting after the defeat.
Today, the Russian partner of Conor McGregor, Artem Lobov announce his retirement from Combat Sports after Lost a fight to Denis Berinchik at Mahatch FC today. With 13-15 in MMA and 2-1 in Bare Knuckle he lose by TKO in fifth round. pic.twitter.com/b5HCFXjYzj
— Bruno Massami (Бруно Массами) (@BrMassami) July 24, 2021
Lobov, 34, is no spring chicken, but has parlayed a 13-15 MMA / 2-2 bare knuckle record into a pretty solid career, with his name pulling enough attention that we’re talking about a bareknuckle sandbag jeans promotion right now. He could easily keep fighting and cashing checks, but if he thinks it’s time to hang them up then we salute the real underground G.O.A.T. for everything he did (especially that Paulie Malignaggi fight).
Godspeed, Artem.
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