King Green Voices His Take on the UFC's Strategy Behind Booking Renowned Older Contenders Against Young Propects

Whether it's Israel Adesanya vs. Anderson Silva or the more recently concluded fight between Salahdine Parnasse and Dan Hooker, fans have seen multiple instances of the UFC using the well-known older contenders of a division to hype up young prospects. Longtime lightweight contender King Green recently expressed his views on how such matchups favor the promotion, counting it as the reason behind Dana White and Co.'s affinity for such matchups.

King Green Highlights the UFC-Favoring Business Aspect of Old Contender vs. Young Prospect Fights

A victory over a renowned veteran usually puts a lot of eyeballs on a rising prospect, which mostly translates to more revenue for the promotion. Hence, it's quite understandable why the UFC has been putting together such matchups for a long time.

However, King Green highlighted a completely different factor that also justified the UFC's affinity towards such encounters. During his appearance at the UFC 332 media day, Green highlighted how veteran contenders mostly draw higher paychecks from the promotion, while a rising prospect can also deliver exciting encounters despite having lower contracted payouts. He opined that even the UFC secretly desires the young prospect to prevail in many cases. 

Green said, "It's an out-with-the-old, in-with-the-new . Our paychecks go up , so you gotta get those new guys out of there. And now you're trying to negotiate a new contract... So now they gotta pay me more, they're like, 'Hopefully this young kid knocks him out.'... So, it's just business. They gotta cut the pay down. Keep the pay to a certain amount."

He continued, "So, , 'If we can get rid of some of you guys and make new stars, why the fu*k not?'"

King Green says everyone knows why the #UFC keeps matching him up with the younger generation:

"It's a kill-or-be-killed sport. It's out with the old, in with the new. … I get the business, and I understand it. But I'm not moving, and I'm not going nowhere." pic.twitter.com/jKeqG4ITJL

— MMA Fighting (@MMAFighting) September 30, 2026

In the process, Green also revealed that his upcoming UFC 332 encounter against Esteban Ribovics is the last one in his current contract. Nevertheless, he declared that he had no intention of hanging up his gloves in the near future, despite being 40.

Green's comments hinted that he hasn't signed a new contract with the UFC yet, which might be a bit alarming considering his wish to continue. In many cases, Dana White and Co. have offered new contracts to their chosen fighters even before the completion of their last contracted fights. But such instances only happen if the UFC is extremely eager to retain them in the promotion, and this doesn't seem to be the case with Green.

The recent release of Michael 'Venom' Page, who was also in the 'older contenders' category, indicates that Green may not be in a pretty favorable position regarding his wish to continue his UFC tenure. However, a lot will depend on the results of his UFC 332 fight against Esteban Ribovics.