UFC Minnesota: Maurice Greene comes home this week for heavyweight bout
Things were going well for heavyweight Maurice Greene (7-2), but his coach still insisted he make major changes. After a successful run on season 28 of “The Ultimate Fighter” and winning his first two UFC bouts Greene told Yahoo Sports that his coach Brock Larson (42-10) said he needed to switch things up a bit in his next training camp.
“He told me, ‘look, you have to go somewhere with more guys who have size and experience,’” Greene said.
“So, we decided to check out some other gyms for this training camp. I’m lucky to train with a coach like Brock Larson who isn’t selfish and doesn’t just try to keep me for himself all the time. He knows what it’s like and what it takes because he was an elite fighter. He wants what’s best for me.”
Greene insists that Larson is still his coach, but that his recent temporary relocation to Colorado to train at Factory X to prepare for his fight against Junior Albini (14-5) back home in Minnesota this Saturday has been a boon for his development. “Brock is still my coach, he’s coming to visit camp, he’ll be in my corner. That won’t change,” he explained.
Greene had originally planned to visit several large gyms before settling on a place to set up camp for this week’s fight but says that once he spent a week outside of Denver at Factory X, he knew he’d found a good thing. “I visited here and loved it right away,” he continued.
“I’m training with guys like Chris Camozzi (24-14), who has almost 20 fights in the UFC, and others. They challenge me and take care of me. It’s also just a great culture and atmosphere.”
Greene is new to the big leagues but he’s on a two-fight win streak in the UFC and has won six out of his last seven, overall. Given the unpredictable landscape of the UFC’s heavyweight division and that the promotion is seemingly always in need of a new title contender, it isn’t inconceivable that a big, dangerous and winning prospect like Greene could very well find himself in the championship picture before long. The “Crochet Boss” is focused on the task at hand but knows that things could continue to change positively for him and his career if he continues to do what he’s capable of.
“The title is definitely something that is on your mind when you keep winning,” he admitted.
“You never know who will be next for the title so we’ve just got to keep on working, improving and winning. Then, good things happen.”
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