When Glover Teixeira made his debut in the UFC, there was a small buzz that had been circulating about him for years. Fighting out of The Pit with John Hackleman, Teixeira has been training with high-caliber partners and fighting some of the best in the independent circuit for years.
In 2006, Teixeira went 3-0 in the WEC, winning all of his fights in under two minutes. Clearly, he would have transitioned over to the UFC once the WEC phased out their light heavyweight division, but he had visa issues.
Now that Teixeira is making waves in the UFC, let’s take a look at some other fighters poised for a major breakout who you should be aware of.
Some of the fighters on this list have already fought for the UFC. Some of them are under contract to Zuffa but have yet to debut. The rest are still battling it out on the smaller circuit in hopes of being noticed.