Less than a month shy of his first title defense, the UFC light heavyweight champion has just reached another important milestone in his career. One decade ago, Glover Teixeira was making his Octagon debut at UFC 146, on May 26th, 2012.
On that night, a 32-year-old Teixeira scored a dominant submission win over Kyle Kingsbury at UFC 146, which would kickstart his first event title run. In an interview with Ag Fight, Glover looked back on the anticipation of making his UFC debut and all the plans he had before joining the promotion.
“I was relaxed. I was so thrilled to begin (my UFC career). I knew where I wanted to get. My confidence was way up. I was on a 15-fight unbeaten streak. I won that one and the next day they wanted to give me Mauricio ‘Shogun’ and he didn’t want it. I took it on the spot, I wanted to fight. I had this notion that I was finally where I belonged and I was going to prove how far I could go. Within one year, I was called for a title shot.”
“I was sure I was going to join (the UFC).” Glover said. “But there was always that thing. I kept thinking I had some heavy karma, that even with all my talent and training alongside champions, was I going to get there, show my work and change my life? I thought I wasn’t going to, but I needed to stay positive. I was going to keep fighting.”
Currently on a six-fight winning streak, Teixeira (33-7) defeated notable names such as Jan Blachowicz, Thiago Santos and Anthony Smith in his last outings. The 42-year-old’s last loss happened in July 2018, when he dropped a unanimous decision to Corey Anderson.
Now, Teixeira is expected to face Jiri Prochazka for the light heavyweight title at UFC 275. The card is scheduled to take place in Singapore, on June 11.
