Did Draymond Green use a rear-naked choke on Rudy Gobert in on-court outburst? All you need to know [VIDEO]

Draymond Green is a generational talent and widely regarded as one of the greatest defensive players in the NBA today. Unfortunately, the 33-year old is often tied to controversies related to his conduct on the basketball court. In one such instance, he made headlines for seemingly using a rear-naked choke on Rudy Gobert.

The pair have a well-known rivalry, and have traded barbs on social media. Yesterday, Green's team, the Golden State Warriors, played against Gobert's team, the Minnesota Timberwolves. Towards the end of the first quarter, a scuffle took place between Klay Thompson and Jaden McDaniels.

Thompson had grabbed McDaniels' jersey, prompting the former's Timberwolves teammate, Rudy Gobert, to try pulling Jaden McDaniels away from him. Seeing the situation, Draymond Green rushed into the chaos and locked his rival, Rudy Gobert in a rear-naked choke, earning widespread criticism from NBA fans.

He slid his forearm under Gobert's chin, hooked one hand over his wrist and tugged with his alternate arm to apply the squeeze. Meanwhile, Gobert's teammates tried to separate the two, while Green began speaking to his rival. Though what he said remains unclear.

While the melee was eventually broken up and Green was ejected from the game, it marked yet another ugly incident in his career. On October 5, 2022, he was in a training ground altercation with his own teammate, Jordan Poole, who he punched in the face, for which he was fined and widely criticized.

Earlier this year, he served a one-game suspension for stomping on Domantas Sabonis' chest during a game against the Sacramento Kings.

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How did the MMA world react to Draymond Green's choke?

Draymond Green is no trained fighter, nor does he appear to have a background in any combat sport. However, he is an incredibly physical basketball player, who is often labeled 'dirty' for toeing the line between rough play and fouling. After his incident with Rudy Gobert made the rounds, he drew the MMA community's attention.

One fan even joked that new UFC interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall had a new contender, due to Draymond Green's physical stature:

"Damn Tom aspinall got a new HW contender coming for that strap Green 6’6 230"

Another explained that he was waiting for the MMA Twitter community to react to the incident:

"I was waiting for MMA twitter to see this"

Some fans even joked about UFC CEO Dana White being in attendance:

"*Camera pans to Dana White LIVE in person*"

Others, however, yearned to see a UFC heavyweight lock horns with Green:

"Dana PLEASE set him against aspinall i can’t stand draymond anymore"

A collage of fan reactions can be seen below:

Fan reactions