Las Vegas, NV — Securing his first win inside the octagon at UFC 258 was “Gifted” Gabe Green. The welterweight earned a unanimous decision victory over Contender Series alum Philip Rowe — the first decision win of Green’s career.
Perhaps going the distance had Green (10-3) a little more critical of his own performance than he otherwise would have been. “Don’t get me wrong, he was a hell of a fighter, tough guy, but I just think I could have done way better,” Green told media outlets including Cageside Press following the bout. “So I’m just looking forward to growing from here.”
Of course, preparation is everything in MMA. And Green had to overcome multiple hurdles prior to arriving at UFC 258. “I tore my MCL first, so I was out for a couple of months. It was pretty much two days after, I popped my rib, and had to take another two months off,” he revealed. And the setbacks didn’t stop there. “Then I got COVID, so I had to take another couple weeks after that, almost another month. And it was legit back-to-back-to-back-to-back.” Luckily Green finally got back to training by the first Monday of the new year. “And I had these five weeks to get ready for the fight.”
Green usually stays in shape between fights, but he’s generally in better shape without the litany of mishaps. Still, “it definitely felt better this fight than it did for the last one, because I was just four days off the couch [that time].” Green feels that “everything really started clicking like two weeks ago. If this fight had been maybe two weeks after this, I think I would have done a hell of a lot better.”
Green’s UFC debut came on very short notice again Daniel Rodriguez last May. Because of the short time frame, “I wasn’t really able to take it all in last time because of how fast everything went,” he admitted. Things were different for his sophomore outing, thankfully. “This time it was cool. Even though I was injured when I knew about the fight, I was just like ‘it’s cool, I’ve still got some time.'” His first UFC bout featured a hectic fight week full of medical requirements. MRIs and other tests. “This time, we showed up on Tuesday chilling. I was like ‘aww man I get to fight on Saturday.’ It was just super cool. The UFC, they take care of you. The PI [Performance Institute] is amazing. I was like a kid in a candy store inside there, it’s super dope. They take care of all your meals, all the re-hydration. The UFC’s dope. I’m trying to stay here for a very long time.”
Watch the full UFC 258 post-fight press scrum with Gabe Green above.
