UFC 267 Preview: Jan Blachowicz vs. Glover Teixeira

UFC 267 features an amazing main event between Jan Blachowicz and Glover Teixeira. The fight is Blachowicz second defense of the title after winning the vacant belt against Dominick Reyes and defending against Israel Adesanya. For Teixeira, it’s his second shot at the title after challenging Jon Jones in 2014. The key to this fight is not easily seen. The fight is actually fairly even on paper and can be a banger. Let’s take a look.

But before we do …… Draftkings, the main betting partner of UFC recently launched in new states such as Arizona and currently offers the following odds: -300 for Jan Blachowicz and +235 for Glover Teixeira.

UFC 267: Jan Blachowicz Needs Patience

A key to defeating Glover Teixeira is patience. Two recent fights you can see this in is against Thiago Santos and Ion Cutelaba. Both fighters had Teixeira almost away. But these fights saw an old Teixeira fight his way back into the fight and get away with pretty brutal wins. In both of these cases, Santos and Cutelaba blew their wad and allowed the patient veteran to work his way despite being on the brink of unconsciousness.

Jan Blachowicz needs to take an approach similar to Alexander Gustafsson in 2017. The uppercut-spammed performance saw Glover methodically pieced apart by the Swedish contender. Blachowicz showed a good ability to do this against both Dominick Reyes and Israel Adesanya. Against Reyes, Blachowicz dominated the first round and blistered the body with kicks and eventually put Reyes away in round two. The Adesanya was even more of this mindset. Adesanya is one of the most mentally taxing fighters to fight but Blachowicz managed to not succumb to the pressure and edge out the fight and get the win.

Should Blachowicz hurt Teixeira, he should not blow his wad and go all out. Instead, take his time, pick him apart and methodically break down Teixeira. When fighting a veteran like Glover Teixeira, he must be aware of Teixeira’s ability to conserve his energy and drag the fight deep where he thrives. Going to the body will be a great way to offset that. But he’ll have to beware of the kicks should Teixeira catch one and get the fight to the ground and offset all that.

Can Glover Teixeira be MMA’s Cinderella Man?

I talked about Glover Teixeira’s path back to the title earlier in the week which is really badass (you should take a minute and check that out). If he can get back to the title, he can win the title. All of the adversity he’s been through has got him where he is now. His veteranship is his key to the fight that can get him through to the title that’s avoided him all this time.

Jan Blachowicz has been a very smart fighter as of late. But if anyone has the MMA chops to get through Blachowicz who likely has a solid gameplan coming into UFC 267. This fight will have to be grimy and dirty for Teixeira. He needs to make every single thing that Blachowicz does difficult. This will lead to Blachowicz looking for shortcuts and easier ways to get to Glover Teixeira. Then, Glover can capitalize on the mistakes Blachowicz makes and frustrate him even further.

The story of Glover Teixiera getting back to the title is already great but will be forgotten if he loses. Teixeira will become a footnote in the careers of Jones and Blachowicz. His legacy is at stake here. Teixeira needs to go out there use his pressure, experience and whit to out think the champ to finally realize his dream of becoming UFC champion.