Much like his fighting career, Maurice Greene didn’t really plan on becoming an actor.
The former UFC and PFL heavyweight, who scored his first major starring role in the new Jordan Peele produced horror movie Him, just happened to run into a filmmaker who liked his look when he was scouting potential extras for an independent feature shooting in New Mexico. But it turns out that wasn’t the first time somebody told Greene that he would probably look good on camera if he ever wanted to give acting a try.
“When I moved here [to New Mexico], I actually didn’t even know that there was a [film] community here,” Greene told MMA Fighting. “I moved here for MMA, I was still in the UFC at the time, it was right after I beat Gian Villante. A couple of people came into Jackson’s at the time, and I ended up doing something with a guy who was an independent guy, did a little fight scene, got my feet wet.
“But when I was on The Ultimate Fighter, the production [team] would always tell me ‘you should go to Hollywood.’ I was like I can’t live in Hollywood, I can’t do it. It’s just not my shit. I like going there to visit but I ain’t trying to live there, unless I have to. When I got here, I had the opportunity so I tried to do it. I figured out as much as I could. I took a monologue class and did a bunch of things. I ended up getting signed by Presley Talent and the rest is history. I’ve just been doing a bunch of auditions. I’ve probably done 100 auditions in less than two years I’ve been really trying to get it.”
Greene quickly realized that if he wanted to have any kind of career in acting, he had to put the same kind of dedication towards learning that craft as he did with MMA.
That career started largely because Greene was an overweight kid get who got bullied, and it wasn’t until a friend asked him if he was interested in fighting that he was motivated enough to learn martial arts so he could get in shape. A month later, Greene was taking his first fight.
Even now, it’s hard for Greene to wrap his head around the fact that he eventually made it all the way to the top of the sport when he got signed to the UFC.
“I was a fat boy who got picked on, never fought a day in my life,” Greene said. “Lost 100 pounds, starting fighting, took my first fight in 30 days. Kept saying I was going to be in the UFC, the dudes laughed at me in the gym.
“Made it on The Ultimate Fighter, went to the UFC, was in the PFL, did some bare-knuckle. A real journeyman as they would say.”
Greene grew to love fighting but he endured a terrifying injury during one of his final appearances in the UFC that effectively changed everything for him — he just didn’t know it at the time.
“During my Greg Hardy camp, my arms and legs went numb during that camp,” Greene revealed. “I was having complications with my nerves going into that fight, and after the first round, my right arm was completely numb. I got the feeling back.
“That’s the second time in my career now, first time in a fight that everything just went numb. He hit me in the top of the head, compressed my spine, arms and legs went numb.”
It was definitely scary but not enough to make Greene walk away from fighting so he kept moving forward with his career. He ultimately competed eight more times past that Greg Hardy fight, but it was his final appearance in Mike Perry’s Dirty Boxing promotion in early 2025 that solidified his decision to call it a career.
Following a feel-good moment when he wrapped up a submission win over fellow UFC veteran Chase Sherman in a bare-knuckle MMA fight, Greene then booked his appearance in Dirty Boxing. He ultimately suffered a blistering 45-second knockout loss in a fight against Rakim Cleveland.
To be clear, Greene has the utmost respect for Cleveland and gave him credit for the win but he also knows competing that night was just a bad idea.
“I had no business losing to him,” Greene said. “I had no business losing to a guy like him. I should have beat him. But sometimes you just can’t fight what your body says you can’t do. I should have won that fight. Had we won that fight, we may be having a different conversation but this outcome was always coming.
“It’s always been a worry of mine. I get hit in the neck, I got zings in my fingers. This has been going on since the Greg Hardy fight, and we risk it, risk it, risk it for the biscuit. I never got the biscuit. I got crumbs. You feel me? It’s time to go get the whole cake now.”
The harsh realization following that loss led to Greene deciding that he was retiring from fighting and putting his full attention on his new career in acting while also making sure he was going to be present for his wife and kids.
“I’m done fighting. I’m done,” Greene said. “It’s been a nice 15 year long career.
“It’s time to put that energy that I put into training for so many years into my kids and my family and acting. MMA was very good to me, I made it further than most. People talk shit, they can say what they want. He wasn’t this, he wasn’t that … I’m proud of my body of work.”
Fighting may be finished but Greene is just getting started with his new career.
After scoring several small roles and staying busy with stunt work, Greene landed his part in the new movie Him, but truth be told, he didn’t even know much about the film until he got cast.
“I get an audition, I get a breakdown, it kind of gives me a little bit but I mean you don’t know the magnitude of it,” Greene said. “You don’t know magnitude until maybe you go your fitting or maybe when you go to your fitting you can see the cast.
“I treat everything pretty much the same. I try to give it my all every time I get to be on set, it’s a privilege to be selected to be on set. Who knows how many auditions they saw, but they liked mine. So when you show up, you show up to do the job and you focus in. I’m excited to see what it’s going to look like. A great cast, crew, director. It was cool.”
For his highest-profile role to date, Greene stars alongside Tyriq Withers — a football player named Cameron Cade, who suffers an unspeakable tragedy that potentially ends his playing career but that’s when he receives a lifeline with an invitation to train alongside Isaiah White — a multi-time champion quarterback portrayed by Marlon Wayans. It’s only after he arrives at White’s compound that Cameron realizes there’s something much darker and sinister at work during these training sessions and it may cost him more than he ever bargained for.
The first trailer showed a maniacal looking Greene with blood splashed across his face as he engaged with Wither’s character during an intense training session. Him opens in theaters nationwide on Friday, and Greene can’t wait for the rest of the world to see what unfolds on screen.
“I’m beyond excited,” Greene said. “I really just can’t wait for it to come out.”
This may be the first major release to feature Greene’s name in the credits, but he knows it won’t be his last. He’s already filmed a few other parts in upcoming films and TV shows, but Greene promises that the hard work doesn’t stop just because he’s not punching people for a living anymore.
In fact, Greene says that’s one lesson he took from MMA that he continues to use in his new job.
“It’s just like MMA. Acting is hard in itself,” Greene said. “It’s taxing on the brain, it’s taxing on the body. Any time, I can learn something from being on set or for stunts or for acting, I’m going to do it every time.
“You do a lot. You learn a lot. I’m getting smaller roles. I’m doing stunt roles. I would assume these actors who have these bigger roles, who are higher up on the call sheet, it’s tough. You’ve got to stay locked in all the time. It’s just like MMA. It just reminds me of the same grind, but we’re using different muscles.”