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Light heavyweight Glover Teixeira had to improvise in order to prepare for his fight against Anthony Smith.
Once again, another UFC fighter had to come up with creative solutions in order to prepare to fight amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Paired up against fellow former title challenger Anthony Smith, seasoned light heavyweight veteran Glover Teixeira found himself without a proper training partner when the global crisis erupted. However, he was not willing to give up the main event spot just because of that one obstacle.
In an interview with Combate, Teixeira explained how he was expecting another athlete to join him for his training camp for the weeks prior to the fight. When the pandemic got critical in the United States, Glover had to make do with his coach’s son when his other sparring partner could not make it to Florida because of the lockdown.
“I was already in the middle of my camp here when they announced they were going into lockdown. I had two kids training with me, Luis Henrique (Former UFC heavyweight) was about to come, he already had his plane ticket, but had to cancel. The kids left that same week, we got tickets for them to leave early, otherwise they’d be stuck here. I stayed with Caio (Magalhaes, former UFC middleweight), who lives here, and my coach’s son, that was our little group.
“Nobody went out. We would just go from home to the gym and back home. We didn’t have any other kind of contact, just that. My gym is closed down, we only open it so I can train once a day. My physical preparation, I’m doing it myself, in my garage.”
Despite the conditions being far from ideal, Teixeira believes he will have enough gas even for a five-round fight, though he does not wish for the fight to go for too long. In the best case scenario, Glover would prefer a nice finish, which he could see happening in the third or fourth round.
“We’ve been training hard. I have plenty of gas. I have three guys helping me a lot, I just stay in the middle doing rounds. The camp is going great, I’m super prepared for five rounds. I’ve been drilling takedown defense a lot, lots of takedowns, too. I’ve been training with two professional boxers. My hands are more agile, I have better head movement.”
“I intend to finish him soon, you know?” Glover continued. “I don’t know if it’ll be a knockout or a submission or ground and pound. It doesn’t matter, that’s my style. I want to get close and impress the crowd. I don’t like fights that go to decision. I want to finish it by the third or fourth round.”
Currenty on a three-fight winning streak, Glover Teixeira (30-7) won all of his outings in 2019, beating Karl Roberson, Ion Cutelaba and Nikita Krylov all in the same year. The 40-year-old’s last loss dates back to July 2018, when he dropped a unanimous decision to Corey Anderson.
Now, Teixeira is expected to meet Smith at UFC Fight Night 175’s main event, in Jacksonville, Florida, on May 9.