UFC lightweight Bobby Green (29-14-1 MMA, 10-9-1) squares off with Jared Gordon (19-6 MMA, 7-5 UFC) at this week’s UFC Fight Night 222 event. Ahead of that clash, “King” dropped some news on a pending name change, previewed that matchup, outlined his future plans, talked Nate Diaz vs. Jake Paul, and much more.

Check out the full interview in the video above, or read the transcript below.

(Warning: Bobby Green’s audio is distorted and has plenty of interference from his phone. However, we elected to upload the interview, anyway, simply because Green always gives great interviews. Thank you for your understanding.) 

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John Morgan: It is the ‘King,’ Bobby Green, a few days out from being back in the UFC octagon once again. Give me a feel. How is it ahead of fight week getting ready to step back in there once again?

Bobby Green: Man, I feel great, bro. Longest f-cking camp I think I’ve had ever, so everything’s working good. I brought all my guns, you know? I’m ready to wrestle. I’m ready to do jits, and I’m ready to strike, so it’s going to be on.

JM: I love it. Longest camp of your life. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I mean, are you appreciative of that time, or are you starting to get a little mentally burned out and tired of it?

Bobby Green: Man, I’m so tired of this sh-t. I like my little 30-day camps, 28 days that they be giving me. Normally the UFC gives me about 28 days, you know? So now, having so much time, but, I feel like it just took forever. It just took forever.

JM: That’s what I was worried about. All right, let’s talk about your last one. Last time out, vintage Bobby Green. I mean, you’re looking phenomenal, and then one moment changes everything. I guess just give me your give me your thoughts on that one.

Bobby Green: The past is the past, and I really don’t like to dwell on the past, but if you want to hear it, I’m going to give it to you. I felt like, uh, I was doing my thing. It was a great fight, and I can’t be mad at anything. I just made a stupid mistake, let him come a little too much, and he threw a Hail Mary, and in this sport – I’ve got almost 50 fights, you know? In this sport, that’s going to happen sooner or later. You know, one time in your lifetime, if you stay here long enough, it’s going to happen, and you’ve just got to be aware of that. You’ve got to be aware of what you signed up for, you know? I’ve seen so many videos with cats getting knocked out. You’re like, damn, I don’t want to be that guy, but in the back of my head, I’m like, ‘Hey, you hang around long enough, that sh-t’s going to happen.’ It’s going to happen, but the most important thing to me is putting on the show, make sure it’s a great fight, that it’s timeless, that you can go back and watch that sh-t and be like, ‘Man, that was dope,’ you know, and that’s the most important – and I got 50 racks to go with it, so give me that.

JM: And that’s the thing – you do put on a show, and that’s why I wondered, I mean you mentioned 50 fights, does it stick with you, or like at this point, I know you said you don’t like to talk about the past, but was it easy for you to just move past it and move on? Or has it been, like, haunting you?

Bobby Green: No! What? I wake up the next day, and I done forgot about yesterday. Man, I got too much crazy sh-t going on in my life to be worried about yesterday. You better focus on future, buddy. You’re stuck in the past, you get stuck in the past, you know what I’m saying? I’m still on the future, so no, I don’t think about the past. I think about the future. That sh-t’s old. You keep it going. I hate fighters that get knocked out – like one of my favorite fighters was Rashad when I was coming up. You know, Rashad Evans. But Rashad Evans before, when he was ‘Suga’ and he was like knocking people out and he was doing the Fred Sanford. He was just the man. As soon as he got slept, he changed his whole style. His whole style changed, and I’m like, man, I don’t want to be that guy where like you built all these people up, like, ‘Oh, they like that,’ now you don’t do none of that, you know? Now he was just a hugger. He was just shooting, and he was so timid. You could tell he was worried about losing, you know, and so that will not change with me at all. I promise you that I will still be the same guy with his hands down and the same guy talking sh-t and still fighting to the death. No doubt about it.

JM: I love it, man. So talk about the time away, man. You wake up the next day, you’ve moved on. This time off that you’ve had – I mean, not a lot of time off – but is it focused on MMA? You’ve got a lot going on. You got families going on. You got side hustles going on. I just wonder, like, are you focusing on MMA every day, or do you try to step away from it when it when you’re not in camp?

Bobby Green: When I’m not in camp, I’m not focusing on it at all, but the fact that they called me back so soon, I’ve been focused. I had to be focused, you know? So, I went here. I went there. I went up to Nate Diaz’s. I’ve been f-cking with them for a minute. We did a lot of training together and sh-t. Then I came back down from there. As I said, I had too much time. I just f-cked around, but I can actually still smoke in camp and fight. I’m like doing the Nate Diaz thing, smoking and then boxing. Smoking and then jiu-jitsu, so I’m trying to still sober up and let all that sh-t go. It’s too much time. So, yeah, I’ve had plenty of time, and I’ve been working this entire time.

JM: I love it. Hey, what do you think about Nate and Jake Paul, man? I’m a little worried. Jake’s younger. He’s bigger, but obviously Nate’s the veteran of the game, man. How are you feeling about that matchup?

Bobby Green: I feel great. I feel great about it. There’s a lot of things ya’ll don’t understand, you know, especially if you haven’t been in there with the kid. If we go back to Nate’s UFC fights, sometimes he gets dropped right? Sometimes him and Nick get dropped, and what I noticed was their style is not really, like, kind of for MMA sometimes, you know? Not to knock my boys. I love my boys, but like they’ll do the shelling up, you know? But sometimes in MMA, the punches will slide through, you know? They’ll slide through, and that’s what cost those guys sometimes. They have more of a boxer style, and it’s gonna work better for him there, where he can roll shots and take shots differently with that guard, and so this is going to play more to his favor. I’ve been going with the dude. He’s tough, and eight rounds, I guarantee you, I don’t think Jake will make it. He starts to push that gas pedal, I say we get him out of there in five, six.

JM: I love it. I think you’re right, man. I think early on it’s going to be, you know, a challenge, but if he can weather that early storm, man, I like his chances later.

Bobby Green: We’ve just got to watch for stupid, uh, his big right hand. That’s all he’s got, the big right hand. But once we get past and prepared for that – but everybody else has a puncher’s chance, so, you know. He’s got like a little cannon in his right hand, but again, Nate can take shots. They can take those shots, come right back at him again, and that’s what I think no matter what, the true warrior will come out at the end, and that will be my boy.

JM: I love it. I love it. All right, well, in the meantime, we’ve got you and Jared Gordon. Talk to me about this matchup. I mean, you’ve seen everything at this point in your career, man. You’ve fought every kind of opponent out there. What do you think about Jared Gordon? What does he present for you?

Bobby Green: Jared Gordon is going to be – I see him as coming at me with pressure, you know, and trying to push me against the cage. Now that they’ve seen this fight happen, I’m guessing everybody thinks push me against the cage and do blah, blah, blah. It’s just another fight for me, brother. It’s just another fight. I’m going to show my style. My thing is coming out even more hot, coming out even more ready and trying to put the stamp down even earlier. You know, I’m learning about my style even more as I’m still older. I’m still like, ‘Man, I could do more.’ Like when I came up with Drew, I think I hit him like 75 times in the first round, and so I’m like, ‘Man, I could push it even more and maybe try to put those guys out first round, second round,’ you know? Really picking up my my numbers.

JM: Where do you feel like you’re at in your career, Bobby? You talk about, I mean, still learning and getting better. I mean, but 50 fights into the game. I mean, where do you feel like you’re at in your career? Are we coming to the end any time soon? Do you feel like you’re just kind of finding your rhythm? Where do you stand?

Bobby Green: I’ve been telling everybody that I was retiring after this fight, and what I meant was I was retiring as Bobby Green. I’m going to be changing my name, and I will no longer be Bobby Green. I’m changing my name to just King. No last name. Just one name, and so this is just the beginning of a new chapter for me. You know, I was looking at Jorge. He had 52 fights before he retired, so to me, I want some other sh-t. Like, those guys are all chasing different things, like chasing the belt, chasing this. For me, I’m personally chasing my own goals where it’s to have this many amount of fights in me, doing it this consistently, at this age, no one’s doing it. No one’s knocking three, four, five fights out a year, 55 fights in, you know what I’m saying? To still be doing it and still look great, it’s like where I don’t look like I lost my – ‘He ain’t lost his speed. He ain’t lost that. He don’t look old,’ you know, so I’m really just competing with myself. I’ve got a couple more things I want to do personally, for myself, which is like have a main event. I got the main event with with Islam, but I felt like they threw that at me, you know? I really want something that was earned, you know, and actually get my own poster that I actually want to f-ck with, you know what I’m saying? So a main event. Besides that, then after I’ll think about when I’m going to set it down, but I’ve just got a couple things I need to do before it, which is have the most amount of fights, which I think is 52 right now. I ain’t seen nobody else with 52 and still out there consistently doing it, so I want to do that, a main event, and then maybe from there I’ll think about sitting it down.

JM: I love it, man. You mentioned the name Jorge Masvidal. I think of ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone, as well. Like, I put you right with those guys, like veterans of the game that put on fights that people want to see. Like it really doesn’t even matter who’s on the other side of the cage. You just know that if King is fighting, I better tune in. Talk to me about this name change. I mean, what’s the motivation behind this name change?

Bobby Green: Man, bro – to be honest I wanted to do this, like, a couple of years ago, but I was fighting so many cases with my baby mommas, child support and sh-t like that. They told me – I think I spent like 1,000 or maybe 1,200 bucks to change my name, and they was like, ‘Hey, no, you can’t do that bro because you got another case, and you got another case,’ and everything, and they didn’t give me money back either. They just took my money, so I was like, ‘F-ck.’ I just thought about it for years, and now here it is again, like, where now I’ve gotten cool with the women in my life and we’re all good, and so I’m just going to – now I can do what I want to do and take care of these things, you know what I’m saying?

JM: So you’re going to go through –

Bobby Green: I’m just doing something different, like Kanye, like Prince, you know what I’m saying? I’m just going to be me, bro. I’m just different than everybody else that’s coming around this joint.

JM: I love it, man, but you’re going to go through the process like, legally and everything? You’re going to just be King. Like, not just say, ‘Hey, please call me King.’ You’re going to change your name, King.

Bobby Green: You got no choice, you know what I’m saying? Change it. No choice.

JM: I love it. I can’t wait to see Bruce Buffer try to figure that out, man.

Bobby Green: I was thinking the same thing. I’m like, ‘Wait. How the f-ck is he going to do that now?’

JM: That’s amazing. All right, well, we’re going to get the the final win with Bobby Green. How long does King fight? I mean, do you just go 52? That’s where you go? I mean, do you put an age on it, a number on it, or do you just let the body tell you when King is done?

Bobby Green: Yeah, my body will tell me. God, will tell me – you know, move things around and he’ll say, ‘Hey, you’ve got a new pathway that you need to walk.’ Until then, when God says it’s time, then it’s time. Up until then, hey, this is what He put me to do. He told me that that I needed to fight, that I needed to motivate people, that I needed to inspire people and tell my story. That’s what I’m doing.

JM: Did you always know you wanted to be that way? Because I was going to ask you about that. I mean, you’re such a role model now, and you think about where you came from and how difficult it’s been, and now people are looking at you as like this positive light, this guiding spirit, man. I mean, is that a weird role for you? Is it one you always wanted or you just kind of happened into.

Bobby Green: Nah, bro, that’s something I’ve always wanted, you know? Like, I’ve always looked at myself as a Superman, coming to save people, coming to help people as much as I can. I’ve got so many different people that I’m trying to impact their lives, and you can always talk the talk, but it’s better to walk the walk and say, ‘Hey, I was that person, too. Hey, I was down. Hey, I was poor, and I was this, and I just took it one step at a time to get where I’m at, and you can do the same,’ you know? And so it’s a blessing to be where I’m at and to be considered what you’re saying, all these different things, brother. I never knew it. Maybe deep down inside I knew it, but I was just focused on walking through the fires, you know? You could say, ‘Oh, I could see this in hindsight?’ Nah, nah. I was just trying to get through the f-cking hard times, brother, being in 50 different homes. Go from this home to this home to this home. On Tuesday, I’m here. On Wednesday, I’m here. Thursday over there. Bro, it’s f-cking hard. Trust me. It was a hard journey.

JM: I love it, man. Well, I’m glad you walked through it, man, and I think you’re in a great place now. I look forward to the next chapter as King, so I guess tell me what we see. The last fight for Bobby Green. I mean, I think I know what we see. You go out there and always put on a show. Vintage Bobby Green – you know, shoulder roll and showing the moves and everything. I mean, is that what you’re expecting to see here? Just that style.

Bobby Green: You’re going to see that and a little bit more, you know? That and a little bit more. People keep telling me to wrestle and keep telling me to show my jiu-jitsu because to be honest I’m pretty good at both, too, but it’s not really what the fans really want to see, but I could have wrestled Drew, and I could’ve took him down. I was already winning the grappling aspect of the fight, and I could have pushed it that way, but I felt like we were on to something so much greater, you know? I’m like, ‘This has got Fight of the Night all over it. Let’s keep this sh-t going,’ you know? And sometimes it costs me, but I’m OK with the cost because I’m trying to build a catalog, you know, a catalog of fights that you can go back, and say, ‘All right, let’s watch these fights. Oh, that one was dope. That one was dope, too. Hey, that one was really dope.’ You know what I mean? And that’s what I’m really about. Like these other guys – what was the other kid? What’s his stupid name? Arman? The Arman guy, you know? He was like, he fought his fight and was like, ‘Give me Fight of the Night,’ after his fight, and I was on the same card, and I was like, ‘I know you don’t think that’s Fight of the Night. I hope you don’t think that’s going to get you that.’ Guys think just because they win, that’s going to get you something. No, no, no, no. We can tell the difference between you and me. You know, it’s a big difference.

JM: I love it. Bobby Green, man. Always a pleasure. Always a pleasure to watch you fight. Always a pleasure to talk to you. I guess the next time we do an interview, it’ll be King. But in the meantime, we look forward to the work you put in next weekend. I wish you the best of luck, my man.

Bobby Green: Appreciate you, big dog. You’re the man. Hey, good luck to you in all your success. Don’t let nobody hold you down. You the truth, and don’t let nobody tell you different.