Glover Teixeira is coming to terms with the fact that he will not be fighting for a UFC title this month.
It has been a crazy turn of events in the UFC light heavyweight division over the past week. UFC 282 was set to see champion Jiří Procházka defend his title for the first time against Glover Teixeira. Unfortunately for Procházka he suffered an injury to his shoulder and will be out of competition for a long time. Instead of holding up the division, Procházka has relinquished his title. This had left an opening for a new championship bout. Logically many thought it would be Teixeira up against either fighter in the co-main event, but that is not the case.
The UFC announced that instead they will be promoting the co-main event to the main and have Jan Blachowicz fight Magomed Ankalaev for the undisputed title. There were rumors that Teixeira had turned down an opportunity to fight Ankalaev, but now he has spoken his truth.
Glover Teixeira explains what was offered to him for UFC 282
Teixeira was the last man to hold the 205-pound title before Procházka. It would make sense to have him fight for the belt since he has been training to do so for months. Now he clears the air on what really went down in negotiations on The MMA Hour.
“My manager called and, see what’s going on and we talk about it, you know, I already explained everything. They say we want you to fight on December 10 and I say yeah, I fight Jan on December 10, and what about Ankalaev? Oh, I see I fight him in Brazil because the style and that was it my conversation,” he said. “And I don’t know, 30 minutes later not even there I just saw the news on Instagram that Jan and Ankalaev is going to fight.”
Teixeira is now off the card completely and it is unclear when or if he will get his promised title shot.
“My manager talk with them. Of course, my manager wants the best for me and they say okay, let’s let’s do with this. And I don’t know if they call him back and say forget about I just know, the news, it was just like upsetting because, you know, training, I was training for like, I was already full five weeks into camp already. I could have celebrate Alex victory little bit more, but I was close to my fight,” he said. “But you know, it is what it is, man. You can’t do nothing about it. Just gotta rise above it. Keep training. Keep focused on the goal. And stay positive. You know, that’s my mentality.”
Teixeira is 43 years old and might have been going into his last title shot. His first fight with Procházka was close and although he lost by submission, many thought he could have won. Perhaps he will still be next for the winner of Blackowicz and Alkalaev.
