UFC Fight Night 28 went down Wednesday night from Belo Horizonte, Brazil. And though the evening got off to a slow start with lackluster preliminary bouts, the card picked up steam as it went along, culminating in a main event that pit light heavyweights Glover Teixeira and Ryan Bader against each other.
The heavily favored Teixeira looked flat early, and Bader took advantage. Bader, a standout college wrestler at Arizona State, used his heavy fists to punish Teixeira against the fence. Teixeira stood tough, but he appeared to be rocked.
It seemed that Bader might be closing in on an upset TKO win—the biggest win of his pro MMA career—when Teixeira landed a thudding punch combination that dropped Bader to the floor. With the tide turned, Teixeira swarmed and finished off his opponent with ground strikes.
After the fight, UFC president Dana White confirmed that Teixeira will receive the next light heavyweight title shot, facing the winner of Jon Jones versus Alexander Gustafsson, who will meet at UFC 165.
Teixeira, a Brazilian, is now 22-2 as a pro and 5-0 in the UFC. He has not lost in more than eight years. Some of his more notable wins include victories over James Te-Huna and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.
Did you miss the action last night? Never fear. Here are some video highlights of the event, courtesy of our friends at FoxSports.com:
Also on the card, middleweight Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza used a reinvented striking game to knock out Yushin Okami and solidify himself as a true threat at the top of the 185-pound division. In the flyweight division, Joseph Benavidez did the same Wednesday night, dispatching jiu-jitsu standout Jussier Formiga and moving much closer to a rematch with 125-pound champion Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson.
Check out this video package for a quick recap of all the night’s top highlights:
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