Bobby Green’s victory speech at UFC Charlotte sparked a lot of questions.
Getting his hands raised against Erik Koch must have given Bobby Green a huge sense of relief. Prior to UFC Charlotte, the former top 10 lightweight was without a win in over three-and-a-half years.
After scoring a split decision win over Josh Thomson in 2014, Green went on a three-fight slump followed by a split draw over Lando Vannata at UFC 216. Had ‘Groovy’ not been deducted a point for the illegal knee in the first round, Green could well have lost four on the trot.
That’s a run very few fighters in the UFC survive. Dan Hardy, Leonard Garcia, Gray Maynard and Jessica Eye are just some of the notable fighters who managed to avoid getting cut after amassing four-fight losing streaks inside the Octagon.
It didn’t look like it was going Green’s way in the first round. Koch worked him with overhand lefts and managed to take his back on the mat. Koch may have expended too much energy in pursuit of the finish as the momentum shifted towards Green in the second.
It was Green’s ability to mix up his strikes and dart in and out of range that won him the fight. The takedown in the third round sealed the result as all three judges awarded him a 29-28 victory. In his Octagon interview, Green turned some heads with his comments about Nate Diaz.
“I hear all of you trying to call my cousin. Eddie Alvarez, Kevin Lee – I’ll take any one of hem. Nate Diaz is like my cousin. If y’all want to run to him, you’ve got to run to me first.”
If you want @NateDiaz209…
You have to go through @BobbyKGreen. #UFCCharlotte pic.twitter.com/1KYepU1Wg0
— UFC (@ufc) January 28, 2018
No, Green and Diaz aren’t actually cousins. Green explained to MMAJunkie that he meant it in the ‘buddy’ sense of the word.
“Like homies. I slept on Nate Diaz’s couch when I was just coming up. That motherfucker showed me everything like, ‘Hey, this is how I do it.’ He put me through the grinder and I respect him for that. So, it’s like a cousin to me.”
“Anytime he’s out in Cali, he let him know what’s up. I let him know anytime he needs to come train with me. We’re like that. I just felt like everybody’s trying to do this whole ‘pick on’ thing and try to get ‘notoriety’ off of his big fame off the Conor stuff. So I’m like, ‘If y’all really want to fight, come holler at me.'”
Not cousins, just homies.
Gotcha.
