Fighters going home with UFC 304 post-fight bonuses may owe King Green a cold one. Green faces rising lightweight Paddy Pimblett this weekend. The pivotal match could see the Liverpudlian earn a spot among the top 15 in the division. Meanwhile, Bobby ‘King’ Green would also look forward to proving he’s still got it. To that end, he had quite the request at the recent pay-per-view press conferences.
The UFC 304 Official pre-fight conference interviews kicked off at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT, at 6 p.m. local time in Manchester. While the interviews at Co-Op Live took place promptly, the matchups themselves will happen at the ungodly stretch of the morning. There have been many camp issues due to it; Tom Aspinall, Leon Edwards, and Curtis Blaydes have voiced it too. As did Paddy Pimblett recently. Given the extra toil, King Green had a specific request.
Uncle Dana, let’s spice it up a little bit. Can we get $100 Gs for it? …Can we get $100? Can we get $100? Let’s spice it up a little bit.
King Green during UFC 304 Official pre-fight conference interviews
After some cheers from the crowd and affirmations and nods from other fighters, bossman Dana White gave in. UFC officials thereafter confirmed to SBNation Network and USAToday Sports the performance bonuses have gone from the set-in-stone $50k to $100,000. The increase marks the second time since early April the promotion has committed to bonus increases.
White ponied up a thematic $300,000 post-fight pay-per-view event bonus at UFC 300. After the historic April pay-per-view card, Brian Ortega pursued performance bonus increases for UFC 303; the irony is ‘T-City’ pulled out of his bonus-making perks. White later added two extra post-fight bonuses to UFC 303. With this increase, the all-English affair is getting less and less morbid. Weird timings or not, Scouse sensation Pimblett also imparted to the crowd fanfare.
Video: Crowd chants Paddy Pimblett’s name while ‘Baddy’ squashes beef
At Thursday’s UFC 304 pre-fight news conference, Green (32-15-1 MMA, 13-10-1 UFC) pitched quite the bonus increase. If his jovial personality and sly passes were not enough to cheer up – this ought to count for something. It turns out it has. Paddy Pimblett was all welcoming toward his opponent.
King Green; Paddy Pimblett, for UFC 304 (Source: IMAGO/UFC.go.com)The duo has had some to-and-fro on who called out whom. King Green said he took notice because ‘Baddy’ Pimblett had his name in his mouth. The 29-year-old Englishman says there’s substantial reason for that. At Thursday’s conference, the crowd was again all cheers for the Scouser as they hymned “Oh Paddy, the Baddy.”
Pimblett, with the support on his home turf, would have plenty of room for smack talk, not that they didn’t. But both fighters acknowledged they couldn’t step into a fight as goody-two-shoes and all buddies. Nevertheless, he said there’s no bad blood between them. Green also agreed that it’s just business.
Post-fight bonuses or otherwise, the card and the Green vs. Pimblett dynamic are proving quite interesting. Pimblett is 5-0 since his debut. He is fresh from a lopsided decision win at UFC 296: Edwards vs. Covington. Meanwhile, Green is 3-1-1 in his last. Pursuing another performance bonus, the lightweight veteran starched and bloodied Jim Miller back in April. The California native might be gearing up for a similar performance now that he’s the one pitching a pay increase.
