Give Glover Teixeira credit—this is a man who knows how the game is played.
Teixeira looked every bit the opportunistic veteran on Saturday at UFC on Fox 19, when he issued a first-round knockout of former champion Rashad Evans and then used his platform on network television to call out top contender Anthony Johnson.
“Rumble Johnson," Teixeira said during his postfight interview with Joe Rogan, as Johnson looked on from the front row. "He’s waiting around for the [Jon] Jones and [Daniel] Cormier soap opera. He doesn’t want to wait around—let’s dance.”
It was a fairly cunning gambit from Teixeira. Of all the unenviable positions in the shallow and gridlocked light heavyweight division, his is among the least desirable.
The victory over Evans puts the 36-year-old Brazilian on a three-fight win-streak—including one in August 2015 over next weekend’s interim title challenger, Ovince Saint Preux. But let’s not kid ourselves—Teixeira is about as far from title contention as possible at the moment, while still being ranked No. 7 in the world in B/R's MMA rankings.
That’s because we all remember how things went for him when he got his chance against Jones at UFC 172. Jones pitched a shutout in their bout, defeating Teixeira by unanimous decision in a pay-per-view main event that mustered just 350,000 estimated pay-per-view buys.
There's no shame in that. We have yet to see a light heavyweight who is Jones’ equal inside the cage. It’s just that Teixeira’s lackluster performance—both in the bout and at the box office—didn’t exactly spark a lot of interest in a rematch.
After he followed that defeat with a loss to the grappling-based Phil Davis at UFC 179, not a lot of people are clamoring to see him fight former Olympic wrestler Cormier, either.
But Johnson?
Well, that matchup between two heavy-handed strikers might suit fans just fine.
Especially after seeing his performance this weekend, it’s reasonable to assume Teixeira has earned a fresh matchup against another elite-level opponent.
He made it look easy against Evans.
Teixeira came out of his corner pressing the action immediately in their five-round fight. He continually walked Evans down against the fence and shook off a takedown attempt by the former Michigan State wrestler in the first 30 seconds.
Evans tried to circle and make space, but he couldn’t do anything to keep Teixeira from slowly cutting off the ring. With just shy of two minutes gone, Teixeira crumpled Evans with a left hook to the point of the jaw. He followed it up with a series of right hands until referee Herb Dean stepped in to halt the action.
“My focus is always to finish fights,” Teixeira said to Rogan after the bout. “I am here to take care of business and always want things to end as quickly as possible. The fight could have easily gone to five rounds, but it didn’t."
Evans quickly got to his feet after the stoppage but could be seen in the slow-motion replay asking Dean, “What happened?”
The defeat seemed to signal the end as a top-flight fighter for the popular former Ultimate Fighter reality show winner. Evans, also 36, had been working his way back from nearly two years of injury-related inactivity. In October 2015 at UFC 192, he lost his comeback fight to Ryan Bader via unanimous decision.
Now this.
For Teixeira, however, the victory means his career still has some legs at the highest level, especially if he can land that matchup with Johnson.
The man they call Rumble is largely considered to be next up for a title shot as soon as Jones and Cormier settle their protracted feud. Those two were finally supposed to meet next weekend at UFC 197 before Cormier was forced out with a leg injury.
In the scramble to find a replacement, the UFC tabbed Saint Preux, despite the fact he’s only amassed one victory since his own loss to Teixeira last summer.
With an interim title on the line, it means the division will be at a standstill until the winner of the Jones-Saint Preux bout can meet up with Cormier in a title unification fight, likely in August or September.
That makes for precarious footing for a guy like Teixeira, who is still dangerous but is old enough that he doesn’t have time to burn. With the title picture stagnant, he needs at least one more victory over a highly regarded opponent to fully revitalize his status.
Somebody like Johnson would fit the bill perfectly.
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