The two men were initially scheduled to fight back in January for the UFC’s ESPN+ debut in Brooklyn. Now they’ll square off in Miami instead.
While the UFC’s trip to Fortaleza ended with a number of notable aging talents getting big wins, Glover Teixeira set the tone for veteran Brazilian fighters in 2019, with his fight against Karl Roberson at UFC Brooklyn: Dillashaw vs. Cejudo. The 39-year-old nearly got KO’d in the opening minutes of round 1 by his late replacement opponent, before securing a takedown and an arm-triangle choke just 3:21 into the fight.
“Cowboy, you say ‘the old man’s still got it,’ man,” Teixeira told the New York crowd after the fight, in reference to Donald Cerrone’s win earlier that night. “39-years-old and this old man’s still got it too.”
And it looks like Glover is going to get a quick opportunity to reassert that statement, with a new fight for late April. Combate reports that the former light heavyweight title challenger has already been re-booked against his initial Brooklyn adversary, Ion Cutelaba. The Moldovan ‘Hulk’ bowed out of their January 19th contest citing an injury. However, in a message on Instagram at the time of his withdrawal, Cutelaba noted that his expected recovery time was only one month, before he could return to action. It appears like that prediction has stayed more or less on schedule.
The two men will now battle on the upcoming UFC on ESPN 3: Romero vs. Costa fight card in Miami, Florida on April 27th. The fight will mark Cutelaba’s first bout of 2019, following a first round TKO win over Gadzhimurad Antigulov in July of last year. The event is expected to be headlined by a middleweight fight between Yoel Romero and Paulo Costa — that had originally been penciled in for UFC 230, before injuries to both men delayed the bout. Stay tuned to Bloody Elbow for more news and updates as the April fight card approaches.