Lightweight competitor Desmond Green a new UFC contract before the upcoming bout at UFC Fight Night Belem, which was offered the same time as the bout in Brazil was offered.
“Yeah, it was great man. Really, it was my manager Glenn Robinson (who got the job done). I had two fights with them (the UFC), my first fight was against a game opponent (Josh Emmett) who’s now ranked like top five in the featherweight division. Then I had a fight with Rustam Khabilov, I feel I won it and a lot of other people feel I won it. I was getting things ready for my next fight and my manager was like they (the UFC) wants you to fight in Brazil and its another away fight against another good opponent. The good news is that they want to give you another contract and increase your pay. So I was all for it and you know me, I will take fights against anybody and anywhere,” says Green in an exclusive interview with Fightful's James Lynch.
Green currently sits at 1-1-0 under the UFC banner (20-6-0 overall) and is coming off of a loss to Rustam Khabilov.
That loss has taught Green some very important lessons for future bouts, such as to be more aggressive inside of the Octagon.
“Honestly, what I really took from it man is that I’m my biggest competition. I felt that I should’ve did way more in that fight. I could’ve did way more, but I was just being cautious. I thought I was ahead and I probably was, I out struck him and I had a better takedown percentage. But at the end of the day, minus all of that, I could have been so much more aggressive and that would’ve took the decision out of the picture. What I learned from that fight is to go out there, I gotta give it my everything. I do so much in practice, I hit the body, head, kicks, a bunch of stuff…takedowns. Then during the fight, its like I didn’t do any of that, I just did enough to touch him and point score. You’re going to see a lot more aggressive me, using a lot more of my attributes. When I don’t be aggressive and use all of my skills, I give that guy a chance to make things easier for him,” says Green.
UFC Fight Night Belem takes place on Saturday, February 3 from the Manguerinho Arena in Belem, Brazil with Lyoto Machida and Eryk Anders headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, which airs live on Fox Sports 1.
In the full interview, Des Green (20-6) discusses his upcoming fight against Michel Prazeres (23-2) at UFC Fight Night 125 on Feb. 3. Des also talks about his loss to Rustam Khabilov, how much of a factor coach Evan Boris is during his training camp and his new contract with the UFC.
