5-foot-10, 155-pound UFC fighter claims he would smack LeBron James in a fight for ‘King’ title: “Not even close”

LeBron James, one of the NBA's greatest, is not new to the idea of fresh challenges in other sports, like the NFL and the UFC.

In April, fellow NBA superstar Paul George said LeBron James would be dominant in the NFL. Besides, a few UFC and boxing fighters have tried to beef with the four-time champion.

One of them is UFC lightweight star Bobby Green, who was confident he would beat LeBron James in a fight. Green, who like James is also nicknamed "King," told TMZ Sports on Saturday:

"If LeBron wanted to fight with me, it wouldn't be close. He is a big dude, but he ain't got the skills. I'm sorry. Skills pay the bill, sir. [I would fight him] in a drop of a dime. In a heartbeat, without even thinking about it. Hell yeah. I will wax his a**."

Bobby Green is confident that he would beat LeBron, even though the Los Angeles Lakers superstar has a significant size advantage over the UFC star.

Green stands at 5-foot-10 and weighs 155 lbs., per the UFC website. On the other hand, the NBA website says LeBron stands at 6-foot-9 and weighs 250 lbs.

Lakers GM, coach praise LeBron James for offseason preparation heading into year 21

LeBron James is preparing for year 21 in the NBA and has received high praise from Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka and coach Darvin Ham for his offseason training regime.

Ham and Pelinka said they have been impressed by how James is preparing for the new season, even though he is 39 years old.

Ham told the media on Thursday, via Dave McMenamin of ESPN:

"Bron, he does a great job taking care of himself. The team that's around him now, the pieces that we have in place, those guys are going to step up and do a lot of heavy lifting early."

Pelinka said, via McMenamin:

"It's staggering for a player who has 20 years under the hood already and is preparing for 21 like he's a rookie. He's been doing 6 a.m. workouts. Probably been in our building as much as any player this offseason. Been in the weight room as much as any player. Any team LeBron's played for, it's been pretty uniform that his work sets the tone.

"There has been nothing but an increase in seeing that here. To me, it's let's be about it, let's not talk about it. He's definitely been about it this offseason."

LeBron James, who helped the Lakers return to the Western Conference Finals last year, is fighting for his fifth career title. This year, he aims to return to the NBA Finals for the first time since the 2020 title run.

The Lakers kept their core together by offering new deals to Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura and D'Angelo Russell while signing an extension with Jarred Vanderbilt. They also brought Christian Wood, Cam Reddish, Taurean Prince and Gabe Vincent in the summer and will start the season as favorites to go all the way.

The 17-time champions will kick off the regular season with a road game vs. the reigning champion, the Denver Nuggets, on Tuesday, Oct. 24.