Glover Teixeira’s first light heavyweight title defense is in the works for May.
The next UFC light heavyweight title fight has been known for months, but now we have a date.
ESPN’s Brett Okamoto reported on Saturday that new champion Glover Teixeira is lined up to fight Jiri Prochazka at UFC 274 on May 7th.
Teixeira (33-7) made history last October when he submitted Jan Blachowicz in the UFC 267 main event. Not only did he finally fulfill his goal of winning a UFC title, he became the oldest first-time champion in UFC history at the age of 42. Teixeira had previously challenged for the belt and lost to Jon Jones way back in 2013, and few would’ve predicted he would get another shot eight years later. Glover is currently on a six-fight winning streak, with his last loss coming against Corey Anderson in July 2018.
Prochazka (28-3-1) is the former RIZIN FF light heavyweight champion who came into the UFC with a lot of hype after all of his success in Japan. The Czech knockout artist made a major statement in his Octagon debut when he KO’d Volkan Oezdemir at UFC 251 in Abu Dhabi. He elevated to main event status for his next (and most recent) fight, a spectacular spinning elbow KO of Dominick Reyes with under a minute left in the 2nd round. Two fights, two knockouts over former title challengers, and now he gets a title shot.
No location or venue has been revealed for UFC 274.