Green explains relationship with 'cousin' Diaz, callouts of Lee, Alvarez

Warning: Story contains coarse language

Bobby Green raised as many eyebrows for his latest soundbites as he did for his performance.

Moments after he snapped a four-fight skid with a unanimous decision over Erik Koch at Saturday's UFC on FOX 27, the 31-year-old lightweight boldly declared that if Kevin Lee and Eddie Alvarez want a crack at his "cousin" Nate Diaz, they'd have to earn it by meeting him in the cage first.

Green shed some light on his rant when speaking to MMAjunkie later that night, revealing the highly coveted Diaz played an integral role in his early development as a fighter. Diaz has been in limbo since his August 2016 blockbuster opposite Conor McGregor, but fielded callouts from both Lee and Alvarez as soon as he'd teased a return in either May or June. But the way Green sees it, both contenders are angling for a payday opposite a proven draw in his "cousin," and it doesn't sit well with him.

"I slept on Nate Diaz's couch when I was just coming up," Green said. "That motherfucker showed me everything, like 'hey, this is how I do it,' and put me through the grinder. And I respect him for that, so (he's) like a cousin to me. Anytime he's out in Cali, he'll let me know what's up, I'll let him know anytime he needs me to come train. We're like that.

"I just felt like everyone's trying to do this whole (sic) thing and try to get notoriety off his big fame off the Conor stuff. So I'm like, 'if y'all really wanna fight, come holler at me.' It's that simple."

Despite his designs, Green stated he set his sights on Alvarez out of principle, but couldn't say the same about the boisterous Lee, who most recently fought Tony Ferguson for an interim title in October.

"I love Eddie. Eddie's a legend, no disrespect, he just called my cousin out, but Kevin Lee? I feel like he's a mouthpiece and he didn't earn what he got with that title shot. He didn't earn that shit. He just basically talked his way into stuff. Come fight a real fighter and we'll see how tough you are then."