Bobby Green has some harsh words for Paul Felder.
Felder was in the commentary booth for Green’s fight with Jared Gordon on Saturday at UFC Vegas 71, and unfortunately, calamity struck when Green stopped Gordon with strikes immediately following an unintentional clash of heads. Felder, who has known Gordon for years and once even stepped in to corner Gordon on short-notice despite serving as a commentator that same evening, reacted poorly to the sequence, animatedly exclaiming, “Come on!” and saying that the situation “sucks.” At one point, it even appeared that the UFC production team told Felder to rein it in as he said, “I know, I’m calmed down,” on the broadcast. In the end, the bout was ruled a no-contest.
And Felder’s reaction earned him Green’s scorn.
“When we see each other, you know what time it is too,” Green said Monday on The MMA Hour. “We’re going to have some words when I see him. I’m gonna wait until we see each other face to face. When we see each other, he knows what time it is too. It’s just like, bro, stop with all that emotional bulls***. He was over there, ‘Come on!’ I’m like, bro, come on now, bro, like do your f****** job, and then I heard him say that, [the UFC] told him to calm down. He was too emotional. Do your f****** job.
“And secondly, I felt like he was d***-riding, because [Gordon is] his homie, he lived with this dude and s***. Like, bro, don’t d***-ride? Keep that s*** straight up.”
Green’s reaction to Felder’s commentary is likely not helped by the unfortunate reality for himself. Because the bout was ruled a no-contest, Green didn’t receive his win bonus, nor was he able to secure a Performance or Fight of the Night bonus, something Green railed against in his post-fight scrum.
A few days removed from the incident, Green still feels exactly the same way, saying he’s had the same thing happen to him that struck Gordon, and he fought through it.
“This is a f****** fight,” Green said. “98 percent of the scars on my face… this s*** came from headbutts. I just fought through the s***. I just fought through it… This s*** happens all the f****** time. Man the f*** up.
“I could see if he hit his head and he was f***** up and he was out. I even asked the ref, Keith Peterson, ‘So, what if he had put me in that triangle he was trying to put me in and he finished me? Would y’all stop the fight and say let’s go back to the cameras?’ Or what if he hit me with an upkick when he was trying to hit me with an upkick and I grabbed his legs and started controlling him, shoved him down? He was still bucking before I even hit him. That’s when I hit his ass. It wasn’t like he was f****** out of it. No, I saw his eyes, bro, and then I chucked his s*** by and [bang]! and I saw him start leaving. That’s when I started seeing him leave. Before that, he was well aware of what the f*** was going on.
“I’m not trying to shoot Gordon down or talk s*** about Gordon or anything like that, but what I am saying is, the s*** is what it is. It’s a f****** fight. S*** happens. Especially with the way he was waving his big-ass f****** head. He was scared, trying not to get hit. So it is what it is. Sometimes s*** just f****** happens. Man the f*** up.”
Despite Green’s thoughts, the bout remains a no-contest, and the logical step forward looks to be doing exactly what Felder suggested on the broadcast: Let both men heal up and then do the rematch. And even though he feels like he should have won, Green is up for that — on one condition.
“I would run it back just because I feel like people think that Jared was getting something going there,” Green said. “He only had like two good shots in there that I felt, and I just had to get his timing down. Once I got his timing and I got his rhythm — because he’s very weird and awkward, he’s an awkward fighter, and with awkward guys, they’re not the standard type. You can’t really find guys who are awkward like that sometimes, and so you just got to develop to him and I took the time to develop. I’ve got his whole game plan now. Even if he tried anything new, there’s nothing he could do that I’ll be surprised by. He can’t wrestle more than me — I should have took him down and f****** choked him out. But no, I just [was like], I’m gonna beat you up.
“He’s not that good. But if he wants to run that back, let’s leave that option up to him. I don’t give a f***, yes or no. If he wants to run it back, if he runs his mouth and thinks he had any chance in that fight, I’ll run it back on him. That’s the only way I’ll run it back because if he say some s*** like, ‘I felt like I was gonna win,’ I’ll punk that n****, bro. I’ll punk him. I was punking him in the cage, he was running around that b**** acting scared, and that’s the only reason why I wouldn’t fight him. That’s why I suggest he shut up.
“No disrespect, I’m not trying to disrespect him, but don’t say nothing like that, bro. You was running scared, you know what time it was. And that’s the only issue I wouldn’t fight him. It’s just, bro, I’m trying to get Fight of the Nights. I’m trying to f*** with people that’s really doing this s***, bro… Don’t waste my time, is what I’m saying. If you’re going to fight scared, don’t waste my time. I don’t want to fight scared guys like that. N****, we came to fight.”
UPDATE: Paul Felder has responded.
I understand the criticism. I got emotional. It was a friend. But it was also a pretty awful clash of heads that almost resulted in a TKO.I respect green as a fighter. I do apologize for letting my emotions into play, but there is no need for threatsYou don’t have to like me
— Paul Felder (@felderpaul) April 24, 2023