Bobby Green announces plans to retire as an MMA fighter and change his name to King after his final bout at UFC Vegas 71.
Bobby Green has announced that he will retire after UFC Vegas 71, only to be reborn as “King.” The 36-year-old will face Jared Gordon in a lightweight bout this Saturday at the UFC APEX. Although Green, a 15-year-old MMA veteran, initially announced his plans to retire after the fight on Instagram Stories in February, he left out one essential detail.
In an interview with MMA Underground this week, Green clarified that he is only retiring his name. He plans to legally change his name to his longtime fighter nickname, “King,” once he is finished with his match against Gordon. Green explained, “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.”
Green has wanted to change his name for “a couple of years” and even attempted to do so previously, but was thwarted due to outstanding debts he had to pay. He said, “I was fighting so many cases with my baby mommas, child support and s*** like that. They told me, I think I spent like $1,000 or maybe $1,200 to change my name, and they were like, ‘Hey, no, you can’t do that bro, because you’ve got another case, and you’ve got another case,’ and everything, and they didn’t give me money back either.”
Despite the name change, Green still has goals he wants to achieve in MMA before retiring for good, such as headlining his first proper UFC event. He’s also curious about how Bruce Buffer, the longtime voice of the UFC, will handle his introduction once he switches to his new moniker. Green said, laughing, “I’m like, ‘Wait, how the f-ck is he going to do that now?’”