Artem Lobov offers to step in against BJ Penn at #UFC199

SBG Ireland’s Artem “The Russian Hammer” Lobov has volunteered his services to step in as a late replacement and fight BJ Penn at #UFC199, following the announcement that Penn’s previous opponent Dennis Siver was injured. Lobov took to social media to make the call out and vowed to donate 50% of his fight purse to charity, as you can see in the below tweet;

@bjpenndotcom If you let me fight you I will donate 50% of my purse to charity...Lets have a fight and help those in need!!! @ufc #Legend

— Artem Lobov (@RusHammerMMA) May 11, 2016

Lobov (11-12-1) is 0-2 in the UFC and prior to his stint with the promotion was renowned for stepping in to take on fights at the last minute which certainly helped build his reputation on the European scene. His tweet has definitely created some interest which was someone lacking from the fight between Penn and Siver and we all know that fan popularity does have an influence on some of the promotions thoughts so watch this space. At the time of writing nothing has been made official and the UFC have not yet announced a replacement for Penn.