Glover Teixeira has spent retirement turning Alex Pereira into a nightmare for large men, but now the old UFC light heavyweight champion is putting his own gloves back on. Teixeira is booked to box Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at Spaten Fight Night on Aug. 29 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and he is not selling it like a soft legends parade. It also slides right into the crossover lane where UFC legends keep circling boxing after the cage chapter closes.
Watch Teixeira talk through the matchup below:
Teixeira, 46, has not competed since his UFC 283 loss to Jamahal Hill for the vacant light heavyweight title. That was the night he walked away from MMA as a fighter and leaned into coaching, most visibly beside Pereira during the Brazilian monster’s title runs. The retirement lane looked comfortable. Then boxing found the right name at the right time.
“I’m always training, but every once in a while I put my gloves on, and I play with Alex (Pereira). I play with Yousri (Belgaroui), but nothing crazy, you know, because I don’t spar if I’m retired,” Teixeira said. “Then Alex said, ‘Glover, you gotta go back and fight.’ Then Ana Hissa, she’s like, ‘Hey, I work with Spaten, they’re trying to put a fight together. You wanna fight in Spaten Boxing?’ I said, ‘Hell yeah, I wanna fight. I love to do boxing.'”
Two UFC Greats Finally Get Their Strange Little Detour
The funny part is that Teixeira and Rua somehow missed each other during their actual UFC runs. That feels almost impossible considering both men lived in the deep end of the light heavyweight shark tank, but MMA matchmaking does weird MMA matchmaking things. Rua made his own farewell walk at UFC 283 against Ihor Potieria, the same event where Teixeira had his final MMA fight.
Teixeira said there was once a short-notice possibility after his UFC 146 win over Kyle Kingsbury, but it never materialized. Now the meeting comes in a boxing ring instead of a cage, because combat sports loves giving everyone homework after graduation.
“I fought everybody, he fought everybody, we didn’t fight each other – and that’s great,” Teixeira said. “We retired the same day, here we are. We’re gonna go in there and do some boxing and let it out, man.”
The important bit is that Teixeira is pushing back on the idea that this is a wink-wink exhibition. He said the bout will use 10-ounce gloves, and his language was not exactly pillow-fight material.
“It’s a fight,” Teixeira said. “… We’re training hard, no exhibition. We do 10-ounce gloves, and we’re going to take his head off. I’m going to take his head off. I’m going for that. I don’t know what he wants to do.”
That is the whole appeal here. This is not a title eliminator, not a rankings play, and not some grand reboot of either man’s championship prime. It is two UFC legends who somehow never got matched in MMA finally agreeing to punch each other under boxing rules, which is exactly the kind of strange veteran detour that keeps the fight game from getting boring.
Teixeira’s recent public role has been tied to Pereira’s orbit, but Spaten Fight Night drags him back into the center of the poster. It also continues the familiar crossover lane where retired MMA names test the boxing waters, from Silva and Diaz chatter to Rampage Jackson chasing a boxing grudge match with Rashad Evans.
Rua is 44. Teixeira is 46. Nobody needs to pretend this is the future of light heavyweight violence. But if both men are serious about making it a real fight, Spaten Fight Night just became a lot more fun than a retirement scrapbook.
