“King” Bobby Green isn’t going to get the match he eagerly anticipated against Donald Cerrone, at least not now.
But that’s not stopping the outspoken Riverside, Calif. native from speaking his mind against a fighter he truly dislikes.
Green was scheduled to meet “Cowboy” at UFC 178, but had to step aside when former Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez became available to meet Cerrone in Las Vegas on Sept. 27.
On Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, Green said that while he’s moved past losing the opportunity to fight on a big card, he’s not over his grudge against Cerrone.
Green alleged both racial comments and inappropriate behavior with women at UFC Fan Expo during an autograph signing with fans.
“He just said some racist stuff,” Green said. “He said stuff like, random racist stuff like ‘we gotta check him, we gotta check him, you know how black people like to steal.’ I’m like ‘what the,’ and I’m getting hot in front of thousands of people, all these people are here for the signing and they’re going ‘ohhhh’ and ‘ooooh’ and ‘ahhh.'”
According to Green, he downplayed the alleged incident with the Jackson’s MMA fighter at the time because the former Strikeforce fighter was new to the UFC.
“His boy [Isaac] Vallie-Flagg [said] ‘he had a little bit to drink,’ he’s like ‘let it go,’ I’m like ‘man, I’m not tripping’ and I’m laughing it off like ‘hahaha. It’s cool.’ But inside, the real dude inside of me, we don’t let that kind of s– go, you know? I want to get his ass. But at the same time I’m like ‘play it cool, don’t make waves.'”
Green said he went into the ill-fated autograph signing as a fan of Cerrone before things went downhill.
“We’re at the Expo signing, and Cerrone is going out, he is just the most obnoxious a–hole I’ve ever met,” Green said. “And I liked the guy, I was a fan of him at the time. So I’m actually excited to meet the guy. I’m cool with him, I shake his hand, you know, and he’s just been rude as hell. ‘Oh, no you don’t want to strike with me. You want to be a wrestler, I’ll make you a wrestler’. I’m like man, I’m cool with your boy, your boys are my boys, and me Vallie-Flagg are cool, and me and Derek Brunson is cool, and they’re both from his camp so I’m like, its cool, it’s all good bro, because I’m the new guy, I’m the new guy on the show. I don’t want to make waves, it’s not good for business to make all these waves and you’re just coming in, you’re just a little fish. You can’t come in and be fighting these guys and making a bunch of noise when you’re a nobody. They’ll kick you right out of this really quick, you know? That Jon Jones-Cormier stuff happens? You’re outta here real quick if you’re not a Jon Jones or a Cormier.”
Green then went on to accuse Cerrone of inappropriate behavior with women in line for autographs at the Fan Expo.
“He was groping every woman in his line to do his signing,” Green said. “He’s groping these women. They’ve got husbands, they’ve got fiancees, they’ve got boyfriends, I’m like, that’s messed up man, just because this guy’s a nerd and he can’t do anything to you, you’re going to do this to him. Girlfriend’s cute, Donald Cerrone, picks her up, grabs her ass, starts grabbing on there and stuff and he’s like “I’m Donald Cerrone.” I’m like, ‘you’re going to piss somebody off, you get the wrong person they’re going to get pissed.’ He’s like, ‘what are they going to do to me, I’ll knock them out.’ I’m like what the? This guy’s full of himself.”
Green spoke his mind on a wide variety of fighters and issues on the MMA Hour. Another person in his crosshairs is Norman Parke, the former TUF: Smashes winner.
“Norman Parke’s a douche, bro,” Green said. “That guy, he basically said some words to me. Again, I’m a little fish coming into the industry and these guys are treating me with disrespect when I’m being nothing but respectful to them, you know? It’s funny how people act.”
“Basically it was more of a misunderstanding with Norman Parke, but Norman Parke said some things. There are certain things you don’t say to a man. You don’t treat a man a certain way. That’s automatically in the territory of fighting words. I never call a man the B word. I would never talk about a man’s wife. I would never talk about a man’s mother. Those are kind of like the rules for a man not to say about another man, because if you do … he called me a –ksucker b– something. I’m like, what did it come for, where did it come out, where did you feel the need to do that for.”
It’s clear there are no lack of potential grudge matches for Green, who has won eight fights in a row. But for now, Green will bide his time.
“I’m a company dude, bro,” Green said. “Whatever the business wants to do, biz is going to do, because, at the end of the day I can’t be stopped, bro. I’m doing me, regardless. It’s just got to understand that, it’s just a food chain. I understand Eddie’s a bigger name, I understand Cerrone is a bigger fish too, and they want those two guys to have this super fight. I understand that. I’m still a little fish, I’m still a little guy, I‘m just going to hold my block down. So whoever is on my block is getting it. That’s just the way it is.”