UFC 304: King Green looks to rule England’s Paddy Pimblett
With a new first name and plenty of motivation, the Rialto lightweight set his sights on the Liverpool star and vows to "take his head" Saturday.
Look out, England. Here comes another King looking to conquer.
Only this time, King Green is looking to lay claim only to the Octagon on Saturday, all the while hoping to break some British hearts.
The Rialto lightweight wants to put a stamp on his new first name inside the Co-Op Live in Manchester, England, when he takes on Liverpool star Paddy Pimblett in a UFC 304 main-card clash.
So why the new name, with the nickname officially supplanting Bobby?
“It’s something different. I’m just not the same guy as everybody else, you know? I’m different,” Green said in an interview from Manchester. “Just getting ready to pay off my house, and I told my homies, you couldn’t be a king without a castle. And to have your castle, you have to own your castle. Not just buy a house, but you need to own it.”
It is an audacious reality for someone who was in the foster system at the age of 5. His mother was a drug addict. His father was incarcerated for much of his youth. Green still went on to place twice at state as a wrestler at A.B. Miller High in Fontana.
Even months after Green made his UFC debut in 2013, he still couldn’t shake the struggle. His younger brother, Mitchell Davis Jr., died at 23 in a drive-by shooting in San Bernardino.
The arduous journey is not lost on Green.
“It’s amazing, brother, it’s amazing,” he said. “You know, that’s the whole point of the King. I’ve never seen no one around me, anybody do what I’m doing. And so I guess I wanted to put a little more emphasis on it, you know?”
You want to talk emphasis? Saturday will mark Green’s 50th professional MMA fight, from the nights of scrapping in Mexico to making a name for himself in Strikeforce and now having 25 UFC fights under his name, with eight fight bonuses to boot.
And here he is, a fan favorite at the age of 37, winner of three of his last four fights, always looking to put on a show for the fans. His last victory was a three-round thrashing of fellow respected veteran Jim Miller at UFC 300 in April.
Miller, 40, left the Octagon with a broken hand, broken toe and cuts above and below his eye requiring 23 stitches. Green (32-15-1, 1 NC) called it “just another day of the office.”
After defeating Miller, Green called out Pimblett, returning the favor and insinuating that the upstart should keep his name out of his mouth.
“He should have kept it to those other guys,” Green said in his UFC 300 postfight press conference. “This guy right here will find you. And when I line it up, and I get the sights right, you’re going to pay dearly.”
Fight week has seen no abatement in their war of words, with the 29-year-old Pimblett razzing Green for the name change – “CTE is real,” he said – and Green calling his opponent a spoiled kid.
Pimblett (21-3) is 5-0 since debuting in the UFC in September 2021, with his last victory via unanimous decision over Tony Ferguson at UFC 296 in December. Green, who won via a third-round submission over Ferguson at UFC 291 in July 2023, scoffs at Pimblett’s résumé.
“He’s just gotten here (against) this guy that’s been sacrificing years to get half of what he has,” Green said. “He should be coming in thankful, but yet he’s talking crazy.”
As for fighting a favorite son in enemy territory, you can take one guess how Green feels about that.
“I came to do one thing … to take his head. I’ve already kind of put in my head,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what happens when I come out behind the doors. It don’t matter if they throw beers at me. All I know is, I’m just going straight down there to hurt that kid.”
UFC 304
Main event: welterweight champion Leon Edwards vs. Belal Muhammad
Co-main event: interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall vs. Curtis Blaydes
When: Saturday
Where: Co-op Live, Manchester, England
How to watch: early prelims (3 p.m., ESPN+)); prelims (5 p.m., ESPN2/ESPN+); main card (7 p.m., PPV via ESPN+)