Artem Lobov’s fight with #4 ranked Cub Swanson is undoubtedly the biggest of his career, and the fact it is on a main event stage reinforces that fact.

The two are scheduled to face each other in the headlining act of UFC Fight Night 108, which takes place April 22 in Nashville, Tennessee. And while Lobov’s unranked position compared to Swanson makes him the underdog in this bout, the SBG stalwart remains unfazed.

“This is nothing new to me,” Lobov said, speaking on The MMA Hour. “People will doubt you, that’s fine, I’m ready to go. This is exactly the position I want to be in. I have a lot to prove in this fight, and I’m ready to do that.”

The fight came together after quite the public campaign from Lobov, who took to social media in the fallout of Swanson’s legendary bout against Doo-Ho Choi at UFC 206 to target both men. The fact the UFC granted him a shot at the winner, Lobov says, was a (albeit welcome) surprise.

“Cub Swanson, I’ve been watching him for many years and he has a very good style,” Lobov said. “He likes to stand and he goes for it. When I saw his fight against [Doo-ho] Choi, I thought ‘that was a great fight, I’d love to be involved in one of those’. And realistically, I thought they might give me Choi. I didn’t actually expect to get Cub, even though I wanted him, I wasn’t sure they would give him to me.

“In the end they did, all I had to do was message Sean Shelby [UFC matchmaker], and I said ‘Sean I know you think that Cub will beat me, but let me prove you wrong’.”

And, with this rare opportunity granted, Lobov has no intention of squandering it.

“I know I’ve been saying this a lot, that I’m going to get the knockout,” Lobov said. “And it hasn’t happened, but against [Teruto] Ishihara, I almost got it. … but I think against Cub, I get it done. He comes in, he’s very open, he throws wild shots. He has never, I promise you, in his life felt power like I have.”