Glover Teixeira just wants to compete and fight.
The Brazilian and former title contender agreed to replace Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and meet Rashad Evans next month at UFC on FOX 19 without even hearing who he would be facing.
Teixeira has scored back-to-back victories, finishing both Patrick Cummins and Ovince Saint Preux, to get himself right back near the front of the line in the 205-pound division.
The 36-year-old explained to Brazilian news source Portal do Vale Tudo that he always keeps himself on weight now in case of a call by the UFC.
“I keep myself on weight. Ever since my loss to Phil Davis, I changed my entire training camp and diet,” Teixeira said. “I’m always light, on weight and ready. Semi-ready, actually. Because nobody trains and is always ready without a fight coming up, no fighter does that. Anyone who does that is not in the UFC. We have to keep ourselves at 70-percent the whole year, anything more than that will get us hurt.
I was training, I was actually helping Caio Magalhaes who will fight on the same day. When they called me, I accepted right away. I didn’t even ask who my opponent was. Rashad is a former champion and very well rounded. You must be sharp to fight any of the top guys. I’m prepared to show I can take any of them and fight for a title again.”
Teixeira (24-4) rose through the rankings to challenge Jon Jones for the title in 2014. He lost via decision, and was also defeated by Phil Davis later that year.
Evans (19-4-1) is just 2-3 over his last five after going unbeaten from 2010-12.