Longtime Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) light heavyweight title contender Glover Teixeira, who previously challenged Jon Jones for the division strap at UFC 172 all the way back in April 2014, will once again attempt to capture the 205-pound crown with a Jan Blachowicz title fight at some point later this year.
The Polish power puncher was able to outlast reigning middleweight kingpin Israel Adesanya in last weekend’s (March 6) UFC 259 pay-per-view (PPV) main event and it sounds like Teixeira (32-7) is happy with the outcome. In fact, the Brazilian expects Blachowicz to present a far easier style than “The Last Stylebender.”
“I think Blachowicz’s style is easier for me,” Teixeira, 41, told MMA Fighting. “It’s dangerous, but both are. Anyone is. With good accuracy, the right timing, you go down. But Blachowicz waits more, trades strikes without moving too much, and he will accept a grappling fight more as well. I think it’s a better matchup. I prefer to fight someone like that more than someone that moves too much.”
Adesanya (20-1) is widely considered one of the top strikers in all of mixed martial arts (MMA), but Blachowicz was able to gut his way through their 25-minute dance to capture a unanimous decision victory, one that was not short on wonky scorecards.
“It was a bit underwhelming to watch, I don’t know, it felt like both were respecting each other too much in the beginning,” Teixeira continued. “And then it seemed that Blachowicz got tired but started getting the takedowns. I thought Adesanya would have a better takedown defense. He was taken down too easily.”
Who gets taken down when Teixeira fights Blachowicz remains to be seen.