Like the saying goes; “right place, right time”. And that’s exactly where Bobby Green finds himself right now. After an undisclosed injury, Bobby Green replaces Dariush against the red hot Islam Makhachev.
The fight originally with Beneil Dariush was thought of as one final push for the Dagestani to be thrown into legit title chatter. In fact, had the UFC had to scratch Makhachev off the card next Saturday night at the UFC Apex; it would have been a tough watch.
Enter Green. And this is a big risk big reward fight now. Green’s personally been through the ringer in life, and should the UNRANKED lightweight upend the number four ranked fighter, well ; quite the script gets written. In his 18-UFC fights he’s gone to the scorecards 13-times. Including this past Saturday against Nasrat Haqparast. Going back to UFC 187, Makhachev has only had four decisions, and is on a nine-fight win streak. Compared to Green’s two.
Green likes to fight with his hands down and relies heavily on his head movement and hand speed. He’ll absolutely need his “A” game here. Makhachev’s ground game is on par with Khabib’s and despite only having three KO’s has more pop in his hands.
Bobby Green Replaces Dariush; What’s In This For Islam
Brett Okamoto from ESPN is reporting that the fight will be at a catchweight. Something Dana White hates. Which makes you wonder how much weight has Green blown up since Saturday.
In fact there’s no doubt Makhachev’s doing a solid for Dana White here. But a loss to an unranked fighter hurts his “I want and deserve next shot” argument. As a result it’s safe to assume that Ali Abdelaziz has his client very well covered financially. And probably a promise that before 2022 ends, he’ll get that shot.
Should Makhachev pick up another win, does he even deserve next crack at the strap? Probably not. Even if on a ten-fight win streak. He’ll either have to wait for Dariush to recover, or face Michael Chandler. However, there has been chatter that “Iron” has turned that fight down.
