Green takes entertaining tilt over Koch to end winless drought

Bobby Green brought the goods on Saturday, and with them came a much needed W.

It took him a round to loosen up, but the 31-year-old lightweight outdueled Erik Koch and rode some crafty grappling late to take UFC on FOX 27's featured preliminary bout by unanimous decision. The victory ended a four-fight skid spanning well over three years, and gave the ever-boisterous Green the gall to call out Eddie Alvarez and Kevin Lee moments after he'd gotten his hand raised.

Both fighters' mitts hit pay dirt in Round 1, with Green scoring whenever he chose to pressure Koch and the Roufusport man landing with long punches in space. Koch eventually took the action to the mat, where he angled for arm-triangle and rear-naked chokes, but a resilient Green managed to shuck him off and bring the fight back to the feet to cap the closely contested frame.

Green committed to walking Koch down in the second stanza, and the stalking soon bore fruit, as he slipped Koch's monotonous 1-2s, responded with punches upstairs and down, and sprinkled in kicks to the body and knees from the clinch to tie it up on the scorecards heading into the third.

The Strikeforce alum sealed the W not with his striking, but with his grappling in a pivotal Round 3. After Green scored a takedown, the fading Koch made a last-ditch effort to explode out of the precarious position, only for Green to gain side control in the ensuing scramble, cruise to the final horn and secure three nods of 29-28 on as many scorecards.

Koch has now lost two straight and three of five since moving up from featherweight nearly four years ago.