King Green isn’t furious with Herb Dean, but he’s not happy either. The veteran lightweight went to Instagram after his first-round TKO loss to Esteban Ribovics at UFC 332 in Salt Lake City on Saturday and said he wanted more time to fight his way out of trouble.
“I told myself regardless or not, I’m not going to be mad at myself but I’m a little mad,” Green said. “I told Herb, this is going to get sticky. Let me go out on my shield.”
He also insisted he had more left. “I was still fine. I wanted to keep fighting. I feel like we were getting somewhere. It was a great fight.”
The official result was Ribovics by TKO (punches) at 4:08 of Round 1. Dana White addressed the criticism of Dean after the event, and Yahoo Sports reported that the UFC CEO acknowledged Dean is having a rough year. MiddleEasy reported that Green promised to return soon.
How it ended
For most of the round Green was doing his usual thing: hands down at his hips, walking forward, talking, sticking jabs to the body and looping a right hand over the top. Ribovics had trouble finding his range early. He landed a superman punch that only partly connected, and Green answered with a combination. Then Ribovics found a big right hook and Green went down. Ribovics followed him to the mat with ground and pound, Green got back to his feet, and he was dropped again. After the third knockdown, Dean stepped in. Green protested, then smiled and laughed it off.
MMA Fighting noted that Green was never unconscious, but he was in serious trouble, and Dean made the call to spare him from another knockdown in the round.
The stakes
The loss stings because of the momentum Green brought into this one. He entered at 36-17-1 on a four-fight win streak, with three straight finishes over Daniel Zellhuber, Jeremy Stephens and Terrance McKinney, and he had gone 7-3 over his previous 10 Octagon appearances. MMA Fighting reported that White had floated Green as a perfect candidate to one day fight for the BMF title. That conversation likely goes on ice for now, although the Utah crowd gave Green one of the loudest reactions of the night.
Ribovics came in at 16-3 and 3-2 over his previous five. His last outing was in August at UFC 330, where he stopped Edson Barboza with a second-round TKO. Two straight stoppages of name lightweights is a nice line on a résumé.
My take
Green is a sweetheart about it, and I believe he felt fine. Nearly every fighter feels fine on the floor. Three knockdowns inside one sequence, with ground and pound mixed in and 52 seconds left in the round, is about as clear a referee’s call as you’ll get, and “let me go out on my shield” is a fighter’s request a referee is paid to turn down. Dean has given people plenty to complain about this year, if White’s own assessment counts for anything, but this stoppage shouldn’t go on that list. Ribovics earned a ranked lightweight next, and Green, who said he’ll be back soon, probably needs one win to get the crowd and White talking BMF again.
