Andre Fili Didn’t Pay Attention to Conor McGregor During Artem Lobov Fight

Andre Fili discussed his win over Artem Lobov at UFC Fight Night 118 and Conor McGregor’s presence at the bout in a new interview with MMAjunkie. Highlights are below:

On Conor McGregor supporting Lobov during the bout: “I was aware of him, obviously. While Artem was walking out I saw him. We had our little pissing contest, our little staredown. I (expletive) started, he was talking (expletive), he was talking (expletive). We were kind of doing our thing. But I liked that. I thought it was cool. I think the fans thought it was cool. I think part of this sport is showmanship. Also, if it has to do with McGregor, people are going to be excited. I thrive off that (expletive). I (expletive) love confrontation. So him being there and him sort of – actually, it was cool.”

On McGregor using an anti-gay slur: “There’s no need to use words like that. You don’t need to demean other people to make yourself seem bigger. Whenever you hear someone use that word or call someone a ‘bitch,’ that makes you look so insecure.”

On McGregor being present for the fight: “During the fight I didn’t notice him at all, to be honest. I was just focused on the fight. I didn’t notice he was circling around. When (Goddard) stopped me and Artem, when I was on top of him, I didn’t know why the (expletive) he was stopping. I didn’t even hear McGregor. I was just hearing my cornerman, and I was just trying to beat Artem up.”

On his performance: “The travel time was like over 20 hours with all the layovers added up. And I didn’t sleep more than a couple of hours each night because I was trying to get used to the time difference. So I really felt that in the third round. The third round didn’t go how I wanted. But I did what I needed to do to get the win. I felt the fight was still pretty exciting, all things considered.”