7 Years After Jon Jones Loss Glover Teixeira Finally Gets His Title Shot

Jan Blachowicz’s title reign at 205-pounds is off to a good start. The Polish fighter handed Israel Adesanya the first loss of his MMA career at UFC 259 and successfully defended his title for the first time. His second title defense will come later this year as he takes on a veteran in Glover Teixeira. 

Teixeira has been in the promotion since 2012. The Brazilian fighter seems to be getting better with age and at 41, he will have a second shot at the UFC title later this year. 

Teixeira first challenged for the lightweight belt when he took on the incumbent Jon Jones at UFC 172. Jon Jones dominated the fight from start to finish and won a unanimous decision. In the process, he handed Teixeira his first loss in eight years and his first in the UFC. 

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Can Glover Teixeira clinch light-heavyweight gold at the second time of asking?

In a recent interview, with AgFight, Teixeira shared his thoughts on the title challenge against Blachowicz. He said, “I always believed that I was going to get that belt, that I was going to get there. I lost to the guys who fought for the belt afterwards like Anthony Johnson, (Alexander) Gustafsson. I hit the post several times and this fight with ‘Marreta’ was to remove that. This time, go. I managed to achieve this victory and always believing.” (translated via Google Translate)

The former title challenger continued, “The road was long, more than seven years, but I was there and saw the chance. I won’t say it was easy. Now we are here again. I sought this dream with joy. (…) We are getting experience with life. We do so much wrong that in one hour we get it right. I am in a peaceful moment. I just want things to flow to do what I love”

Glover Teixeira is currently on a five-fight win streak that has led him to the light heavyweight title. Starting in January 2019, Teixeira has secured wins over the likes of Karl Roberson, Ion Cutelaba, Nikita Krylov, Anthony Smith, and Thiago Santos. Four of those five fights have ended in stoppages. It has been seven years since the Brazilian fought for the title.He will be hoping to win it this time around at UFC 266.