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Outside of the competitive sphere of MMA, Green is an interesting personality who has an inspiring back story that perfectly justifies his nickname 'King'. However, Green went on to officially change his first name to 'King' in 2024. This article sheds light on the reasons and the background for his name change.
Why is Bobby Green changing his name to 'King'?
Ahead of his April 2023 fight against Jared Gordon, Bobby Green announced he was going to change his name to 'King' following his upcoming bout. The name 'King' has been Green's nickname in the cage for many years, but he chose to change his name permanently for reasons you may not expect.
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Heading into the aforementioned fight, Green was interviewed by Charly Arnolt of ESPN MMA, where he explained the decision behind his name change.
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"I come from a broken background where I didn't have a mother, didn't have a father, all those different things. Being in foster care. And letting people know that you can come from ground zero, having nothing, being homeless to building whatever it is that you're trying to build. Whatever you're trying to be, I don't want anybody to feel like they can't do it."
He added:
"If I did it with the circumstances I had, you can too. It's just about showing somebody that I'm a king, just like you. You're a king or a queen and I treat everybody like royalty..."
Watch the video below from 1:05:
Bobby Green officially changed his name more than one year after the initial announcement
While he announced the decision to change the name more than one year ago, Bobby Green's original name kept appearing in his three subsequent fights in the UFC.
As MMA fans dismissed his announcement as a probably gimmick or an emotionally charged statement, Green surprised everyone with the announcement that he had changed his name to 'King' ahead of his UFC 304 fight against Paddy Pimblett.
On July 7, 2024, Green took to Instagram and posted a video of himself with his birth certificate, with the name 'King' appearing in the 'Amended Information' column. He said:
"My name is King now. So that people know, I wasn't playing. I really changed my name."
Check out the video below:
Since the announcement, Green's first name has been officially changed on prominent online databases such as Wikipedia, Tapology and the UFC's official website.
