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UFC heavyweight Maurice Greene found himself in a bad situation against opponent Gian Villante on Saturday night at UFC APEX in Las Vegas, but the 33-year-old American pulled off the stunning submission win at 3:44 of the third round to overcome what looked like had just become some pretty insurmountable odds in the fight.
The 6-foot-7 Greene had smartly used his long reach during the early rounds of the fight, but the stocky Villante kept coming anyway and landed a massive punch in the final round that sent Greene back to the canvas at full force.
If Greene was a tall tree then Villante was the burly lumberjack.
That’s the moment when Villante mounted his prey to rain punches down upon his fallen adversary only to suddenly be caught in an odd-looking choke move administered by Greene that even the UFC Fight Night commentators had trouble describing.
In the end, Greene was awarded the win via arm-triangle submission.
Whatever the move should be called it totally worked. After the victory, Greene couldn’t quite gather himself emotionally in time to keep himself from sobbing for the first part of the post-fight interview with ESPN.
You can watch Greene’s emotional response to his big UFC win below.
You can just feel the emotion pouring out of @TheCrochetBoss after his win at #UFCVegas4 🥺
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Greene: ‘It’s an Amazing Feeling’
Greene was overwhelmed with emotion after his come-from-behind victory.
“A two-fight skid…you know, it’s critical you win all your fights, so my job was kinda on the line tonight,” Greene said during the post-fight interview. “And, you know, I want to move my family, and I needed to win to move my family. We packed up in three days, in 24 hours, spent three weeks at Jackson Wink and we got it done. And, man, it’s an amazing feeling being back in the win column.”
Greene had moved his training camp to Jackson Wink MMA Academy in New Mexico before the outing and had planned to move his entire family to Albuquerque after the fight assuming he won it. But had he lost? Greene wasn’t sure he’d be getting to continue his UFC career and that would have been a big deal for a fighter trying to make ends meet for his family.
So Greene had a great reason to be sobbing with joy on Saturday night.
“I know I’m crying. I’m always crying on TV, but man, it’s just like a weight is lifted off my shoulders, especially when you’re the breadwinner in the family,” Greene said. “It feels so good.”
Watch Greene’s Submission Win Over Villante Below
You can watch Greene’s arm-triangle from bottom-position in the short video clip below.
Whatever you want to call it, Greene did the right thing at the right time to score the win.
In a strange turn of events, @TheCrochetBoss gets the tap from the bottom 😧 #UFCVegas4
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