September 03, 2026 | Filed under: News
Working hard is nothing new to Maurice Greene.
The Albuquerque resident has had a successful career in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and finds himself working in the film industry.
Greene’s most recent role is in the A24 film “Onslaught,” which filmed in Albuquerque and arrived in theaters on Sept. 4.
He was told by a friend to make the jump to acting. "I had a buddy who was an actor who told me, ‘Maurice, submit it and forget it.’ He goes, ‘Sometimes you may have had a great audition, but they're just not looking for you, okay? And that's out of your control,’” Green said. “When I did the audition, I just I did the best I could, and I submitted it and forgot it. And they ended up calling me back. And when I showed up on set, you know, I had spoke to the director (Adam Wingard), and he just pretty much told me, he goes, ‘Maurice, once I saw your audition, I just I knew you were Teddy.’ I was excited when I got the role. Anytime I'm working on set, I'm perfecting my new craft. I'm happy.”
After years in the UFC, Greene has made the pivot to film. The move was due to a producer telling him he should be in Hollywood and move to Los Angeles.
“I told him at that time I was like I'm not a L.A. dude and kind of passed it off,” he said. “Then when I moved here to Albuquerque, I was training I was still in the UFC at the time, and somebody came into the gym looking for fighters for their movie. I had told them I'd do it, and I did a little fight scene in the movie, and then I was like, man, I didn’t even know you could act here in Albuquerque. Once I finished, I just did everything I could to try to get involved in the industry, and I reached out to (Presley Talent Agent) Tina (Presley), and about a year later, she thought she could do something with me. Here we are about 120-plus auditions later, and this is my second movie in theaters in the short three years.”
He’s come to love the New Mexico film industry.
"New Mexico film is the ‘ish’, ” Greene said. "I love representing New Mexico when I'm on set, whether I'm doing it here or in the future. Hopefully, I'm able to do a little bit of traveling to do some acting. But I primarily have done everything, my whole body of work here in New Mexico, so I couldn't be happier.”