UFC Fight Night: King Green vs Lance Gibson Jr. Preview & Prediction
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King Green returns to open the final main card of 2025 on short notice, taking on the debuting Lance Gibson Jr at a catchweight of 160 pounds.
King Green vs Lance Gibson Jr. facts
What time are King Green and Lance Gibson Jr. expected to walk out?
Where is UFC Fight Night: Royval vs Kape? UFC Apex, Enterprise, USA
Where can I get tickets for UFC Fight Night: Royval vs Kape? Click here for the latest ticket information for UFC Fight Night: Royval vs Kape
What TV channel is UFC Fight Night: Royval vs Kape on? UK – TNT Sports / USA – ESPN+
Where can I stream UFC Fight Night: Royval vs Kape? UK – TNT Sports subscribers can stream the event online via the TNT Sports website and discovery+ / USA – ESPN+ & UFC Fight Pass
UFC Fight Night: Royval vs Kape main card
Brandon Royval vs Manel Kape (Flyweight)
Giga Chikadze vs Kevin Vallejos (Featherweight)
Cesar Almeida vs Cezary Oleksiejczuk (Middleweight)
Melquizael Costa vs Morgan Charriere (Featherweight)
Kennedy Nzechukwu vs Marcus Buchecha (Heavyweight)
King Green vs Lance Gibson Jr. (Catchweight - 160 lb)
UFC Fight Night: Royval vs Kape prelims
Amanda Lemos vs Gillian Robertson (Women’s Strawweight)
Joanderson Brito vs Isaac Thomson (Featherweight)
Neil Magny vs Yaroslav Amosov (Welterweight)
Sean Sharaf vs Steven Asplund (Heavyweight)
Melissa Croden vs Luana Santos (Women’s Bantamweight)
Allen Frye vs Guilherme Pat (Heavyweight)
Jamey-Lyn Horth vs Tereza Bleda (Women’s Flyweight)
King Green: Does the veteran still have what it takes to hang at the highest level of MMA following several brutal stoppage defeats?
Returning for his first fight since March, King Green (32-17-1) is primed to make his twenty eighth walk to the Octagon on Saturday night. The 50 fight veteran formerly known as "Bobby" has been with the UFC since 2013, fighting a litany of top contenders along the way. A lightning-fast volume boxer who fights with his hands down, Green has produced some legitimately excellent performances over the likes of Grant Dawson, Tony Ferguson, and Jim Miller. Regrettably, his propensity for defensive lapses has cost him brutally in the twilight of his career, something that has resulted in some of the more harrowing stoppage losses in recent memory. "King" was last seen in action at UFC 313, where he was planished by a Mauricio Ruffy KOTY contender wheel-kick in the first round.
Lance Gibson Jr.: Can "The Fearless" score the biggest win of his career in a short notice UFC debut?
A veteran of Bellator, Lance Gibson Jr. (9-1) hasn't fought in more than a year, with both of his recent contests coming against vastly overmatched competition in Muckleshoot FC. With seven finishes split almost evenly between knockouts and submissions, "The Fearless" has proven to be a legitimate finisher. However, his strength of schedule leaves a lot to be desired; the 30 year old American is just one contest removed from fighting a 19-42 journeyman. There are also valid question marks over Gibson's durability, considering that his sole professional loss to date saw him hit the deck after eating a jab. He finds himself in the biggest spot of his career on short notice, taking on one of the UFC's more high profile statesmen at a catchweight of 160 pounds.
King Green vs Lance Gibson Jr. prediction
Despite not having fought since March, the X-factor in this match up is likely to be Green's durability. Gibson isn't a one-shot finish threat on paper, but we have yet to see whether Green's chin has deteriorated to the point that it isn't going to take a murderous KO artist like Ruffy or Turner to flatline him with strikes.
The American took an unholy amount of damage during a 2023 KO defeat to Jalin Turner, a result that has arguably gone down as the most egregious late stoppage in UFC history. That's to say nothing of him getting wheel-kicked into oblivion by Mauricio Ruffy, being throttled unconscious by Paddy Pimblett, or getting brutalized by Drew Dober against the cage.
The bottom line? Green enters this contest with six KO defeats to his name, with three of the worst instances coming in the space of the last three years. As such, while Gibson likely would have struggled to lay a finger on Green in his heyday, there's a valid argument to be made that his 77% finishing rate bodes extremely ill for the mixed martial artist formerly known as "Bobby."
However, until "The Fearless" proves that he has what it takes to cut it in the UFC, Green's quicker hands and extensive degree of Octagon experience remains the safer pick here. This take could conceivably age like milk, but the pick is Green to stick and move his way to decision.
Prediction: King Green to win by decision
