Glover Teixeira acknowledges title shot against Jan Blachowicz will be his ‘last chance’
Is this the final shot for Glover Teixeira?
Glover Teixeira is ready to give all he has for one last chance at UFC gold. Teixeira has been a staple at the top of the UFC light heavyweight division for over 8 years. He has had a title shot before, on just his sixth fight in the UFC. Perhaps that shot came a little too soon in his UFC tenure, but now seven years later, at the age of 41 Teixeira will have his time in the spotlight again. Teixeira will be the next man to challenge for the 205-pound belt and he is more than ready.
“This is the year. I worked really hard in 2019 and 2020, opening a new gym in 2019, coming off a loss, investing a lot of money without knowing what future would hold for me, the future of my career, where I was heading to, if everything would be alright. And I won three fights in 2019, the pandemic came in 2020 and my gym was closed, but I managed to do two wonderful fights, and now I’ll fight Blachowicz,” Teixeira told MMAFighting.com. “This is my last chance. Everybody knows that, I know that. I’m 41 and I’ll do everything I can to win this belt. Let’s make history.”
Teixeira rose up the rankings with five wins in a row over top-ranked opponents, two of which were recent title contenders. Many believed that Teixeira would be the first title defense for Jan Blachowicz before Israel Adesanya decided to make the move up to face him. Teixeira weighted in as a backup and was ready at UFC 259 just in case they needed him. Now that Blachowicz won, Teixeira is happy.
“Blachowicz winning was great for me,” Teixeira said. “Because if Adesanya wins, we’d be wondering what’s going to happen, if he would defend the 185 title first. Blachowicz came to me and said, ‘You’re next,’ so that was perfect. I made weight, I’m in shape, I was ready to fight, so it’s not like I still have to get in shape to fight him.”
Blachowicz has stated that will be taking a few months off following the win, so perhaps these two can meet up this summer.
