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What happened? That was the question fans and pundits had for UFC fighter Gabe Green after he suffered a 14-second loss at UFC on ABC 4 this past Saturday. Going against a former Ultimate Fighter winner in Bryan Battle, the UFC veteran came out aggressive, moving forward and firing off a flurry of punches until he got caught with a right hook that sent him to the canvas. Battle followed up until referee Wayne Spinola waved off the fight.
During his post-fight interview with Daniel Cormier, ‘Pooh Bear’ admitted he was caught off guard by Green because he usually starts his fights less aggressively, which raised this question: Why did Gabe Green throw caution to the wind? Allow ‘Gifted’ to answer.
Gabe Green breaks down fight at UFC on ABC 4
In a video uploaded to Instagram, Gabe Green detailed everything that happened during his fight at UFC on ABC 4, including what his game plan was. To hear him tell it, everything was going according to plan when Battle caused a split-second change from one of the hooks he threw during their exchange.
“Me vs. Bryan Battle is a little bit of a short fight, unfortunately,” said Green. “But I decided, you know, I’m just going to do a little breakdown of it. So, I’m in green. He’s in black. I’m the shorter fighter. He’s taller than me, longer reach than me, longer legs than me and he likes to fight at range. So, I’m immediately going to press forward — not doing it dumb, not running straight at him. I’m making sure I’m winning my lead foot battle so that I’m not running into his rear right hand. I’m occupying his lead hand so he can’t do anything to keep me in front of him.
“I’m pushing forward, head off center line. Like I said, winning that lead foot battle,” continued Green. “I’m just missing him, so I decide to throw my kicks to kind of use it as my lead hook and control that positioning, while keeping my leg on the outside. It’s to make sure that he can’t line me up with his right hand, which you don’t want to do when you’re fighting a southpaw vs. an orthodox guy.
“If you listen to the commentary, Dominick Cruz is like, ‘Gabe Green is going to want to get him right to the cage,’ and that’s exactly what I do. Because him being the longer fighter — not only being the longer fighter, but being a guy that likes to use his range and use long kicks and teeps — he’s not super comfortable or he hadn’t been super comfortable in the pocket.
“He likes fighting guys at range and I was like, I’m going to get inside right from the beginning and press forward. So once I get him to the wall, I throw a few jabs. I noticed that he’s really trying to parry that jab down hard. So when that happens, I let it whip around and come over the top because when you’re parrying down so hard, you leave your face open.
“So as that happens, he’s looking for his right hand, but I have my right hand to block that shot. So I’m blocking his shot and landing mine. Bink. Follow that up with the second jab to the face and then I go body, body, head. I land my 1-2-3-4 and 5. Now at this point, my shot lands on his temple, but he is kind of rolling with it because he’s throwing his shot. I feel at this point that I’m the faster, more technically crispy fighter.
“All my shots are positioned where they’re supposed to be on the inside, while he is going wide and slower over the top. But when he hits me with this shot, since it hooks the back of my shoulder, it pushes me back a little bit and when I followed up with this left hand, I’m just short now. If I never took that half-step because of him knocking me off my base a little bit, I would’ve touched him right there. But since he hit me on the shoulder and moved my feet a little bit, I’m just short.”
Though he tried to steel himself and respond with a right hook, Gabe Green said Battle slipped it, so he decided to feint a left and try the right hook again. But by the time he threw it, Battle was responding with his own right hook, which was the one that connected with his chin. Green conceded he was ‘so focused’ on trying to hit Battle with a right hook that he completely missed the one headed straight for him.
“I essentially zigged when I should have zagged,” the UFC fighter said. “And was using that shot as a feint to guide him where I wanted him to be so I could set up a mean, right lead hook. And yeah, he decided that as soon as he slipped this punch no matter what I threw that he was going to come over the top and throw his right hook.”
Watch the full video here:
With the loss at UFC on ABC 4, Gabe Green finds himself on a two-fight losing streak. The 30-year-old also suffered a loss to fast-rising contender Ian Garry at UFC 276 this past July.
Bryan Battle made history at UFC on ABC 4
Battle etched his name in UFC history with his first-round KO of Gabe Green at UFC on ABC 4. According to the promotion, that was the sixth-fastest finish in UFC welterweight history. As for his next appearance, the 28-year-old turned his attention to the aforementioned fellow UFC fighter Garry, who was competing against Daniel Rodriguez the same night.
“Ian, you big blonde doofus, what’s happening, baby?,” said Battle. “It took him 15 minutes and he couldn’t finish that guy, you know what I’m saying? I got him out of there in [14 seconds].”
Garry went on to earn his own first-round finish, stunning Rodriguez with a head kick and follow-up ground-and-pound.
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