If you look only at the stat line, it may not make much sense. After all, Glover Teixeira did knock out Ryan Bader in the first round of the main event at UFC Fight Night 28.
Not to mention Teixeira, fighting in front of his Brazilian countrymen, probably earned himself a date with either Jon Jones or Alexander Gustafsson, who fight for Jones’ belt at UFC 165 later this month.
But Teixeira didn’t emerge from this fight with a necessarily stronger position in the eyes of many observers. He was flat-footed. He was predictable. He was a bit passive. Only Bader punishing him against the fence seemed to wake him up. The punch combination and ensuing ground-and-pound were impressive for their power and come-from-behind nature but not much else.
So, what was the verdict among that most important of focus groups, the Twitterati? Was this a final step on the path toward stardom, or was it a stumbling block of sorts despite the win?
We took a look, and the results are not encouraging for Mr. Teixeira. Assuming Jones defeats Gustafsson (and even if he doesn’t), people aren’t giving Teixeira a chance based on his performance against Bader. Here are a few tweets about the Bader vs. Teixeira matchup.
UFC president Dana White was excited by the come-from-behind victory:
Despite the accolades, others saw it differently. MMA Fighting editor Luke Thomas, for one, doesn’t like Teixeira’s chances against Jon Jones:
Sports Illustrated’s Loretta Hunt noticed some cracks in Teixeira’s armor:
Bleacher Report’s own Hunter Homistek was also less than impressed:
But maybe our very own Bleacher Report MMA Twitter feed best summarized Twitter’s mood:
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