Lightweight competitor Bobby Green has a good reason to declare his undying loyalty to the UFC.
Every now and then, we’ll hear about a fighter’s positive experience with the UFC. The most recent story involves lightweight competitor Bobby Green, who declared his undying loyalty to the company.
But the 35-year-old San Bernardino, California native has a good reason to do so. During this week’s UFC 271 media day, Green revealed how the UFC helped him through one of the toughest and darkest moments of his life.
“One thing I didn’t get to share is that my brother that died, I didn’t have enough money to pay for his funeral. The UFC paid for that. That’s why I’m so loyal to them. They were doing things for me that no company’s ever did,” Green told reporters.
“They put (up) the money for my brother’s funeral. And they took care of that. And so I’ll always be loyal to them and thankful for them. Thank you, Dana, thank you Sean (Shelby) for all the things you guys have done.”
Two of Green’s brothers were shot in separate incidents in 2014. One of them, unfortunately, died in late May of that year. And having gone through such hardships in life, he says he’s merely “thankful” to be in the position he’s in.
“I tell (the UFC) all the time, ‘You guys don’t have no idea what you’ve done for me. You changed my life,’” Green said. “And I know that everybody else gets it, like, with the pay and all this bla bla bla… I’m just thankful to be here. ‘Cause every day, I’m just going, like, ‘Man, I’m really here! I came to Texas for free! I came to New York for free!’
“I’m just a broke little kid, and I’ll never forget that. I’ll never act like I forgot. I ain’t forgot those homeless nights. I remember what it feels like when it’s three o’clock in the morning and that morning dew starts to hit where everything gets wet.
“You get wet when you’re sleeping out there, too. I’ll never forget those things.”
Green (28-12-1) is coming off a Performance of the Night win over Al Iaquinta at UFC 268 in November. He will attempt to put on a new win streak this Saturday at UFC 271 when he faces Nasrat Haqparast to open up the main card.