Glover Teixeira has learned from Israel Adesanya’s mistakes ahead of Jan Blachowicz title fight at UFC 266.
For light heavyweight contender Glover Teixeira, watching Israel Adesanya lose a unanimous decision to Jan Blachowicz was a learning experience. Still a few months away from his title fight at UFC 266, the Brazilian knows what he needs to do not do ahead of his encounter with the champion.
In an interview with Ag Fight, Teixeira explained how Adesanya’s downfall during his fight against Jan was giving too much room for Blachowicz to work. Glover plans on not making the same mistake by pressuring the champion at all times, and will look to be the one who takes the fight to the ground, not the other way around.
“My strategy is to impose my game. We can’t give away too many details, how it’s going to be, what he does and how we’ll around it. But it’s to pressure all the time. Pressure more than Adesanya. Adesanya likes to play on the outside, I like to move in. Sure, I take more risks, but it’s pressure all the time. Grappling, too. You need to respect him, he’s coming off good wins, and follow the plan. Get in, hit him, get out and take him down at the right time so we can work our ground game.”
On his way to his second title shot after challenging for Jon Jones’ belt all the way back in 2014, Teixeira believes that the experience he gathered along way made it possible for him build a second title run. Now, Teixeira feels ready to achieve his life-long dream of winning a UFC belt.
“I always believed I would get that belt, that I would get there. I lost to guys who went on to fight for the belt, like Anthony Johnson, Alexander Gustafsson. I kept coming up short, but my fight against ‘Marreta’ was going to put me there. I told myself: ‘This is the time’. I got the win and I always believed.”
“It’s been a long road.” Teixeira continued. “I was there and saw the chance. I won’t say it was easy, but we’re here again now. I’ve been happily chasing this dream. We gather experience in life. We do many wrong things that we eventually get it right. I just want things to flow so I can keep doing what I love.”
Teixeira (32-7) earned his title shot after putting together a five-fight winning streak, four finishes, with victories over Karl Roberson, Ion Cutelaba, Nikita Krylov, Anthony Smith and Thiago Santos. The 41-year-old’s last loss happened in July 2018, when he dropped a unanimous decision to Corey Anderson.
Now, Teixeira is expected to take on Blachowicz for the light heavyweight title at UFC 266’s main event, on September 4. The card is going to take place in a location yet to be determined by the promotion.