TUF 28 alum Maurice Greene admits that he was “just a Joe Blow off the street” when he started his MMA career. Not a professional athlete. Overweight. “I took my first amateur fight 30 days after I walked in the gym at 310, or 300lbs, after I lost 30lbs. Then I fast tracked to pro, and fast tracked myself to the Ultimate Fighter and the UFC,” he said during this UFC Vegas 12 media day this week.
Which is not unlike opponent Greg Hardy’s own path — except Hardy was at least a pro athlete. “In that way, me and Greg are very similar. I’m learning on this stage just like he is.”
If it was time to grade the pair, Greene would no doubt be the better student. Hardy was DQ’d in his first UFC fight, and last year had a bout overturned to a No Contest after using an inhaler between rounds. While Greene himself noted Hardy held his own against the likes of Alexander Volkov, it’s hard to imagine the ex-NFL star as a serious contender at this point.
Green, who is 4-2 inside the UFC’s heavyweight division, might be raw, but he’s acquitted himself well enough. And has made the move to a top camp in Jackson-Wink MMA.
Of course, when it comes to Greg Hardy, there’s always other factors at play. His prior conviction for domestic assault, overturned on appeal when the victim failed to appear to testify, continues to dog him. Fans upset over his lack of contrition don’t seem all that interested in his professional comeback — and tend to champion whoever fights against Hardy. In this case, Greene.
For Greene, he’s trying to separate Greg Hardy the public figure, from Greg Hardy, the man he’ll face in the octagon on Saturday.
“I was talking to Juan [Adams, a Jackson-Wink teammate] about it. And I was telling him one, I just can’t get wrapped up [in it]. I’m not saying that I agree with it, okay. But that’s none of my business. And if I was in his position, I was trying to change my life and I was on a different professional platform trying to make a transition — the last thing I want to do is have my opponents continuously bring up my past, if I’m trying to move forward towards it.”
Adams, notably, faced Hardy last year, and wound up finished. He entered the fight with a lot of emotion, his own mother having suffered as the result of domestic violence. So maybe keeping emotions in check is a good idea for Maurice Greene.
“At the end of the day, we’re gonna get locked in a cage. And, if, when the Crochet Boss fights how to Crochet Boss knows how to fight, they’ll [fans] get that result that they want,” said Greene. His motivations are his own, however. “I got a family to feed. So all my motivation is to feed my family, make sure my kids have to want for nothing, and my fiance has everything that she needs when daddy’s away. So the message is all that stuff that really don’t get to me. I got one on one job, take care of my family, all that other stuff that’s America’s issue. That’s not mine.”
Whether it’s his issue or not, any number of fans will still be pulling for Greene to get the win this weekend.
Watch the full UFC Vegas 12 virtual media day press scrum with Maurice Greene above.
