The sunshine heavyweight division is all of the sudden in disarray.
After champion Jiri Prochazka was compelled to vacate his belt as a result of a critical shoulder damage—that will go away him sidelined for as a lot as a yr—contenders Jan Blachowicz and Magomed Ankalaev at the moment are scheduled to battle for the vacant belt at UFC 283. Within the wake of that information, nevertheless, it must be questioned what’s occurred to the person who was scheduled to tackle Prochazka within the first place: former champion Glover Teixeira.
In a dialog on the Tremendous Lutas’ YouTube channel, Teixeira revealed the negotiations he had with the world’s largest MMA promotion that led to him being pulled from the cardboard. In accordance with the Brazilian, the UFC needed him to face Ankalaev for the vacant title on December tenth. However when Glover requested to maneuver the battle to UFC 283 in order that he would have extra time to organize for a brand new opponent, the UFC turned him down and determined to present Blachowicz the shot as an alternative.
“I’ve simply heard about this, perhaps one hour in the past,” Glover defined. “They’d provided me Ankalaev as a result of Jiri was injured. Since he has a completely totally different type, and we’ve been doing a coaching camp for Jiri for months, I requested for extra time. I requested them to make the battle in Brazil. I informed them I’d battle Ankalaev in Brazil, simply so I may have a couple of extra weeks to make a camp particularly for that man.
“I’m 43 years outdated. I depend on my methods so I can have an ideal battle and I actually wish to carry this belt again to Brazil. I feel I’ve earned it. They informed me the battle needed to be in Vegas, so I informed them I’d battle Jan in Vegas, as a result of I’ve skilled for his type earlier than. They mentioned ‘You’ve already overwhelmed Blachowicz and he’s 39 years outdated’. I used to be like ‘Are you kidding me? I’m 43’,”
Now that he’s out of the image in the interim, Teixeira believes he has no different choices however to attend for the winner of UFC 282’s principal occasion. The best way the John Hackleman disciple sees it, he needs to be the primary in line to battle for the belt as soon as a brand new champion is topped. Nevetheless, he can’t assist it however really feel disrespected with the best way the Dana White & Co. dealt with the scenario.
“I’m going to attend. I’m in all probability the primary contender. I’ll face the winner of this battle. The UFC hasn’t informed me something, however it’s apparent, proper? Myself, Jiri and Jan, these are the three who had been on the prime within the title combine. Ankalaev is right here now, he was going to battle Jan in a title eliminator and the winner would face the winner of me in opposition to Jiri. Now I’m again within the line,”
“I felt a little bit disrespected,” Teixeira admitted. “Given every thing I’ve carried out for this firm. I’m a bit unhappy about this complete scenario. Why wouldn’t they let me battle Jan? It’s two outdated timers combating once more, however it might promote greater than this Ankalaev battle. We’re two heavy-hitters. It could promote extra for certain, no disrespect to Ankalaev. He’s simply not that well-known right here in America. Possibly he’s in Russia, I don’t know. Truthfully, I don’t perceive these items that they do.”
In his final outing, Teixeira (33-8) bought submitted by Prochazka at UFC 275, shedding the sunshine heavyweight belt within the course of. Earlier than that, the 43-year-old was on a six-fight profitable streak, which included victories over notable names similar to Blachowicz, Thiago Santos and Anthony Smith.
