Bobby Green is a lightweight mixed martial artist. He has fought 28 times professionally, compiling 23 wins during that span.
His past four bouts have taken place under the UFC banner - Green's won them all. In his most recent appearance, on July 26, Green beat Josh Thomson by split decision.
It's safe to say that Green is a decent fighter, arguably someone to keep an eye on, especially with a win against a highly respected opponent like Thomson still fresh in the public's mind.
While Green is clearly on the positive track, he is far from a topic of conversation among diehard MMA fans. But he was hoping to change that on Sept. 27 with a victory over Donald Cerrone at UFC 178.
Those plans, however, have been put on hold. Green was pulled from the bout immediately after former Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez signed with UFC last week. Alvarez will now face Cerrone at the event.
The decision to remove Green, still doesn't sit well with the 27-year-old Redlands, Calif., resident. Green is itching to fight Cerrone, but for reasons most MMA fans would prefer never to be associated with the sport they love.
Green, who is African-American, accuses Cerrone of being a racist. He alleges that Cerrone made racist comments directed at him recently during a UFC-sponsored Fan Expo.
The allegations were made Monday on 'The MMA Hour,' an Internet-base talk program. Green's allegations were reported shortly thereafter by MMAFighting.com.
"He just said some racist stuff," Green said. "He said stuff like, random racist stuff like 'we gotta check him, we gotta check him, you know how black people like to steal.' I'm like 'what the,' and I'm getting hot in front of thousands of people, all these people are here for the signing and they're going 'ohhhh' and 'ooooh' and 'ahhh.'"
Bobby Green on Donald Cerrone: "He's the most obnoxious a**hole I've ever met."
— Dave Doyle (@davedoylemma) August 25, 2014
Green said the comments stung extra hard because Cerrone was a fighter he respected. But if the racial remark wasn't bad enough, Green added that Cerrone didn't stop there.
"He was groping every woman in his line to do his signing," Green said during the interview. "He's groping these women. They've got husbands, they've got fiancees, they've got boyfriends, 'I'm like, that's messed up man, just because this guy's a nerd and he can't do anything to you, you're going to do this to him.'
"Girlfriend's cute, Donald Cerrone, picks her up, grabs her ass, starts grabbing on there and stuff and he's like 'I'm Donald Cerrone.' I'm like, 'you're going to piss somebody off, you get the wrong person they're going to get pissed.' He's like, 'what are they going to do to me, I'll knock them out.' I'm like 'what the? This guy's full of himself.'"
racist..... Ha. This is funny — Cowboy Cerrone (@Cowboycerrone) August 25, 2014
Regardless what happens between Cerrone and Alvarez on Sept. 27, UFC is likely to reschedule Cerrone-Green. Before that fight can take place, however, UFC must look into this situation and strongly address the issues of racial insensitivity and sexual misconduct by anyone [fighter and staff] associated with its promotion.
Whether Green's accusations prove to be accurate or not doesn't matter. The promotion must make it publicly known that it does not condone this type of behavior in any shape or form.
Cerrone [24-6, one no-contest] took to Twitter, where he brushed off the accusations leveled against him, but did not deny them. UFC can stick its head in the sand and sweep this matter under the rug -- but to do so would send a loud, clear message to women and African-Americans what the promotion thinks of them.
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