Glover Teixeira may get his chance at once again fighting for the Light-Heavyweight title when he makes weight ahead of UFC 259 this coming weekend.
The veteran is set to be the alternate for the title fight bout between champion Jan Blachowicz and challenger Israel Adesanya should something happen to either fighter.
The news was shared by Dana White at the UFC 259 Press Conference and confirmed an earlier report by MMAFighting that this would be the case.
Teixeira has had a resurgence late into his career after a string of back and forth wins and losses the number one ranked Light-Heavyweight has not accumulated a winning streak of five in a row heading into this weekend, with notable names such as Thiago Santos and Anthony Smith.
It is unlikely that Teixeira’s presence will be necessary though as the challenger Adesanya claims he will not be cutting weight and will still weigh in under the 205-pound limit. The current Middleweight champion is taking this opportunity to move up in weight and challenge for a second title.
With a successful bid at this belt, Adesanya has said he will return to Middleweight next to defend that title before re-accessing his plans. In this situation, it could be some time before Teixeira gets another shot at the belt, however, with a successful title defense from Blachowicz a matchup between these two fighters seems more likely to happen next.
Last competing against Teixeira was Santos who lost via submission in their fight in November of last year. Santos makes a turnaround at UFC 259 taking on Alexander Rakic in a bout to see who remains in the title picture in line behind Teixiera.
UFC 259 will also boast a pair of other title fights including the Women’s Featherweight bout between Amanda Nunes and Megan Anderson. And a Bantamweight bout between Petr Yan and Aljamain Sterling.