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Reports: Artem Lobov ordered to pay legal fees after failing to secure Twitter injunction against Conor McGregor

Reports: Artem Lobov ordered to pay legal fees after failing to secure Twitter injunction against Conor McGregor

Retired MMA fighter Artem Lobov is on the hook for legal fees attached to his failed attempt to force Conor McGregor to take down allegedly defamatory posts on social media.

According to several reports out of Ireland, Lobov was ordered to pay the court costs after a judge previously denied an injunction to prohibit his former friend and teammate from making any further posts about him. McGregor previously posted several scathing messages on Twitter.

Lobov is currently involved in a separate lawsuit with McGregor over profits from Proper No. 12 whiskey, which he claimed to have a hand in creating alongside the Irish superstar. McGregor and his business partners eventually sold a controlling interest in the whiskey to Proximo Spirits — the same company responsible for Jose Cuervo tequila — for a reported $600 million price tag in 2021.

Lobov then filed a second lawsuit aimed at McGregor for defamation after he claimed the former two-division UFC champion subjected him to harassment and intimidation through several posts on Twitter. Over numerous posts, McGregor had called Lobov a “rat” and later described him as an “uncooked sausage of a thing” while challenging his ex-teammate to a fight to settle their differences.

A judge denied Lobov’s attempt to seek an injunction against McGregor, adding that simply being called a rat doesn’t necessarily define a defamatory statement. Mr. Justice Garrett Simons called Lobov’s attempt to silence McGregor on social media as “draconian” and stated that it had the potential to stifle “freedom of expression.”

Despite the setback for Lobov, he will still be able to move forward with his overall defamation lawsuit against McGregor, and the legal fees won’t have to be paid until after that case is settled. The next hearing on the lawsuit is scheduled for March.

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