Bobby Green: I Feel Like I Got Robbed In Texas
Bobby Green says that Edson Barboza may have landed some kicks, but he was controlling the fight…..
It’s been a tough few weeks for UFC lightweight Bobby Green. The Strikeforce veteran piped up during fight week for UFC Fight Night 57, claiming he was considering retiring after facing Edson Barboza. Not really what you expect to hear from a 27-year old on an eight fight streak, and probably not what his coaches wanted to hear either.
Come fight night, “King” seemed subdued, and distracted by what he described as negative media attention and heartless comments about his deceased brother. He was handed a three-round unanimous decision loss by “Junior”, ending his three and a half year uneaten run and sending him back to the drawing board.
According to Green himself though, as he told MMAJunkie.com, he got robbed by the judges:
“I’m still contemplating whether I’m going to retire or not, I’m just not sure. I feel like I kind of got robbed. I felt like it was a close fight. I’m not saying Barboza didn’t do his thing, but even the things he did, they looked bigger than they were. Normally, the way it works is you crack a guy, he stumbles, and you chase his ass and finish him up. Barboza is a great finisher, and all of a sudden he’s not trying to finish me? I felt like I was the aggressor the whole time. I controlled the center of the cage. He had a couple of leg kicks.”
Barboza was certainly more controlled than we’d seen him in the past, and wasn’t the finish-hunting beast we’d seen in the past. Perhaps his recent loss to Donald Cerrone taught him some much needed lessons. But was he on the losing end of the fight? Barboza followed the common opinion that he should use his range, and it inevitably won him the fight. Green continued:
“I thought it was based on cage control, effective striking, aggression and all these different things that we base a fight on,” Green said. “I don’t know. I thought I was doing fine. I wanted to stand up with a muay Thai striker. I wanted to prove that I can take his best, no problem. He was the one having trouble with my style.”
“If I do come back, I think I need to change my approach,” Green said. “My fighting style is very misunderstood. People think because I’m doing what I’m doing that I’m cocky and arrogant. People get angry at me – and I wish guys wouldn’t run so much. I don’t want to put on some little sparring match. I want to put on a fight.”
So the enigma that is Bobby Green goes on, but will his fighting career? A win in Austin would have arguably put him right in the title picture, but maybe he has taken some valuable lessons from the loss. Either way, I’m sure we’ll see or hear from “King” again in the not too distant future.
