I am surprised, motherfucker
Glover Teixeira's championship run was an unlikely result but one that was without a doubt earned.
I was not that surprised though, there were some glaring reasons why Glover was underdog going into this. He looked amazing, smothering Jan Blachowicz until Jan gave his back which Glover took advantage of with a quick Rear Naked Choke to which Jan quickly tapped to.
I mean look at who he fought on his way to now a six fight win streak after a decision loss to Corey Anderson. He goes on back to back submission wins over Karl Roberson via arm triangle as well as the 2nd Round Rear Naked choke win over the always animated and game Ion Cutelaba, which at that point was coming off of two first round finishes. Didn’t matter though as Glover got performance of the night.
He then got the win over Nikita Krylov in a split decision which the numbers show as a close fight but I remember that fight Texeira being in control and in no danger in the third round. Please do keep in mind that at the time this fight happened Krylov was 27 and Glover was 39. Thirty fucking nine. The fight was started with commentary from Brendan Fitzgerald and Daniel Cormier with the response of Glover during his media day. “When do you think you will retire?” His response? I want to beat up people till I am fifty years old.
He then went on to fight former title challenger Anthony Smith in a one sided affair that was worrying in the start with Anthony Smith putting on an insane pace on Teixeira, which can be partly to blame for the one sided loss. A loss in which Glover beat Smith so bad, that Smith was handing his teeth over to referee Jason Herzog. But yet the MMA community as a whole thought this man was going to get Ko’d before hitting the championship rounds.
He then fought former title challenger Thiago Santos and submitted him in the third round by Rear Naked Choke. So now you kinda see where I am coming from right? Four finishes though five wins. Back to back finishes over previous title challengers.
We then have the title fight with Blachowicz. Glover enters the fight as underdog. Which is fair considering his age of 42. The stats behind fighters winning past 35 are pretty clear. Blachowicz entered the fight -305 to Glover’s +240, which I had issues with considering Glover was riding a 5 five win streak.
Like yeah he is old, but Blachowicz is 38, in terms of age he is the oldest competitor Glover has faced in a minute.
Now Glover rides a six fight win streak now, oldest champion to capture gold for the first time. But not only that, he has the most finishes now in the division with 13. Also with the submission he goes to seven which is also the most all-time in the Light Heavyweight division.
The man entered the UFC in 2012 and after nearly 20 years captures gold. He will most likely be underdog to the upcoming challenger Jiri Prochazka. All i’m saying is that we all should no longer underestimate him, because by the look of things Glover is going no where.