Bobby Green is about to show the world, and every other fighter, exactly what it means to do “G sh*t.”
Earlier this month, Green dominated Nasrat Haqparast en route to a unanimous decision victory at UFC 271. Following the fight, fans and pundits called for Green to get a UFC push, and just such an opportunity arrived; Green is stepping in as a late replacement to face Islam Makhachev in a 160-pound catchweight bout in the main event of UFC Vegas 49.
It’s a quick turnaround and a tall task, but it’s one that Green says he couldn’t pass up, even if other lightweight contenders weren’t as keen.
“I found out like five days ago – I was on vacation,” Green told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour. “[My manager, Jason House] called me and I was like, ‘F*ck, Jason, I’m on vacation right now. I just got into a f*cking fight, and I’m fat as sh*t. I’m like 195 pounds, and I’ve got to cut to ‘55?’ People don’t realize I’m a big guy. The next day I’m 175 pounds [on the day of the fight]. I went to all-you-can-eat sushi, I enjoyed myself, and next thing you know, I’m 195 pounds. I’m not gonna get all the way down to ‘55. I’ll do 160 for you guys to make the show still happen, but you’re not gonna make me jump through all these f*cking hoops to make your show happen and I’m not getting something back.
“I know already, the top-10 guys, [Dan] Hooker said it best, all those motherf*ckers got the call first. I guarantee you all those guys were p*ssies. All those guys were f*cking p*ssies. They want to wait and pick their turns. ‘No, it’s not good enough. No, I need more time. No, I only want to fight somebody ahead of me, but then I want it to be with the right camp and I want it to be all the right situations.’ All those guys play this like this weird game. I feel like they hold their cards in and wait for the right time to pull out their ace. Like, no! Sometimes you’ve got to jump on it and take it the way it is. Now I’m jumping over all you guys because why? You’re too p*ssy to take the opportunity.”
Though currently unranked, Green is one of the most seasoned veterans in the game but has been unable to break through to the upper echelons of the lightweight division. Against Makhachev, Green will have his chance. Considered by many to be a future champion of the division, Makhachev is the fourth-ranked lightweight in MMA Fighting’s Global Rankings and currently riding a nine-fight winning streak. It’s a big ask to step in against such an opponent on just 10 days’ notice, but Green says he’s here to prove a point.
“I know I make this sh*t look easy but there’s always some dings, always some damage, always some little things you have coming from those fights. And now you want me to take it back and run it back again?” Green said. “This is nuts. But I want to show people I’m not crazy – I’m f*cking nuts. I’m f*cking nuts. I’ll show all you p*ssy motherf*ckers this is how I’m gonna do this sh*t.
“Let me show you some real G sh*t. Get in there and do this sh*t with the highest guy in our f*cking division. I’m gonna walk in there like a gangster and punch that guy right in his f*cking face. I’m gonna keep hitting him in his face until he goes down. All he’s gonna do is try to wrestle, and that’s cool. He’s gonna wrestle and wrestle and wrestle. I can wrestle too. That’s fine. But at the end of the day, I just want to show my peers, my colleagues, and my opponents, this is how the f*ck you do this sh*t. You don’t sit back and wait for the perfect opportunity.”
And apparently that disdain for sitting back and waiting extends towards the fight itself, too. Green says that come Saturday, he intends to bring the fight to Makhachev in a way that none of his other opponents have been able or willing to do.
“It’s G sh*t. I do G sh*t. I do sh*t that motherf*ckers don’t want to do,” Green said. “I do sh*t like, my whole thing is about standing in fires longer than most men could, or doing things that most men wouldn’t do. That’s my whole life and that’s my whole mindset. So a lot of these guys I’ve been watching go in there with Islam, they never brought the fight to him. I feel like he hasn’t been in a fight yet. I feel like it’s just been a match. It doesn’t feel like a fight, it’s a match. It’s a wrestling match. Nah, nah. I’m gonna be the first person that puts him into a fight.
“He’s about to get into a fight. And yeah he’s gonna try and shoot and yeah he’s gonna try to do those things, but I’m ready for that. It’s gonna be a fight. It’s not just no f*cking match. It’s about to be a fight. So my whole mind state is doing G sh*t. I’m gonna walk in that cage with my shoulders held high. I know all the different things that are in the back of [the public’s] head. ‘He’s the most dominant, he’s the most this, he’s been on a tear, he’s the dark horse of the division.’ I know all those things but I’m gonna walk in there still like a G and like I said, punch him right in his f*cking face. And it’s gonna keep coming.”
