Arnold Barboza Jr. Says UFC 332 Hotel Clash Was on Him, Not King Green
Arnold Barboza Jr. says the UFC 332 hotel confrontation started with him, not with King Green. The boxer told a Full Send interviewer that he shook Esteban Ribovics’s hand backstage, asked if he was scared, and kept pressing him about the weight miss that turned their lightweight bout into a catchweight.
Ribovics was the only fighter who missed weight on the UFC 332 scale in Salt Lake City. He came in at 156.5 pounds for a 156-pound non-title limit, while Green made 155.5. The fight stayed on, Ribovics forfeited 20 percent of his purse, and the miss made him ineligible for a post-fight bonus. He still stopped Green in the first round at 4:08.
Barboza said the tension was already building before the ceremonial lineup. “Before the weigh-ins started, me and Bobby are sitting down, and then Bobby’s like, hey bro, I’m just gonna go up there, I’m gonna be peaceful,” he said. “I was like, what the fck, bro, fck no. You’re fighting tomorrow, that was the weigh-ins, bro, you gotta fcking turn this btch up.”
Green changed his tone after that, according to Barboza. “He’s all f*cked up, so then he starts getting ready, he’s doing his little rooster,” Barboza said. “And then Esteban turns around, and then he puts his hand out, I shake his hand.”
The handshake did not stay polite. “I told him, I was like, are you scared, tienes miedo,” Barboza said. “I was like, que paso con el peso, like, what happened to the weight.” He said Ribovics looked shocked, told him it was not on purpose, and said he had never come in overweight before.
Barboza did not let it sit. “I was like, is it on purpose, he’s like, no, and I was like, oh, all right, well, you’re gonna find out tomorrow,” he said. “I’m hyping up my homie.”
The interviewer said the hotel clip showed Ribovics coming at Barboza rather than walking straight to Green. Barboza agreed that part caught him off guard. “This sht that surprised me too. I was like, oh, what the fck? I didn’t think it was coming at me,” he said. “But you’re fighting Bobby, you know?”
He drew a line between talk and contact. “Bobby never puts his hands on nobody,” Barboza said. “I guess Esteban was getting too close. And so Bobby just gave him like, not like a push. He’s just like, hey, back up.”
Footage from Barboza’s Kick stream showed the camps colliding outside the fighter hotel ahead of the ceremonial weigh-ins, with Green shoving Ribovics as voices rose. Green later complained on stream that he could not take Barboza anywhere and that he saw his friend setting up to swing, which would have put the fight at risk. Barboza said the blame landed in the wrong place.
“I felt bad in the situation after, cause everyone’s going after Bobby on the situation. Like it was his fault,” he said. “But Chaos took the responsibility on this one.” He then turned to the result. “Shout out to Esteban, man. Congratulations on your fight. You did an amazing job.”
Ribovics, who improved to 17-3, told reporters the miss came after the hotel air conditioning was turned on during his cut and he stopped sweating. He did not accuse Green’s side of doing it.
The two jawed as the fight was stopped, then made amends moments later. The win was Ribovics’ second straight stoppage after he finished Edson Barboza in August, and the half-pound miss cost him at least $25,000 in bonus money.
Barboza said none of it was a real grudge. “The respect is always there when two fighters fight after the fight, because you both leave something in the ring you’re never going to get back,” he said. “It’s not intentional. It’s not real beef. And if it was real, we would have fought them right there on the spot.”
He framed the whole scene as promotion for a friend he thought should have been the main event. “To me, I was just trying to entertain people. I was trying to build this sht up because everyone’s talking sht about the card,” Barboza said. “My intention, it wasn’t more like beef. People took it the wrong way.”
Green still has the purse percentage from the miss, and Ribovics still has the first-round stoppage. What is left is Barboza’s version of fight week: he pushed the noise, Green created the space, and the lightweight fight happened anyway.
