Glover Teixeira wants a fellow light heavyweight veteran for his next bout, a fellow Brazilian at that.
In an interview with Combate shortly after his first-round submission win over Karl Roberson at UFC Brooklyn, Teixeira revealed an interest in taking on former division champion Mauricio Rua.
Although Teixeira did not explain when he would like to take on Shogun next, he was adamant about making it his next fight because he considers Mauricio to be a legend and a respectable man in the sport.
“I want Shogun because he’s a legend of the sport,” Teixeira said. “I respect him very much. He has good style and it matches with mine. I want to fight him in Brazil. I don’t know when, it doesn’t matter, we still need to work that out. For now, I just want a beer and enjoy my win in Brazil.”
Even though he managed to secure the win against Roberson in the first round, Teixeira was wobbled by some hard elbows to his head early into the fight, but claims he was able to turn things around when he felt his opponent was starting to gas.”
“I made a mistake,” Teixeira said. “I went for his leg, I waited longer than necessary and I took some hard elbows, but I pulled guard and then I was able to block the elbows from under him. I tried a reversal, but it didn’t work, but then I ended up on top anyway and I could feel he was tiring out. I think his adrenaline was too high and I was able to recover.”
The win over Roberson made Glover Teixeira (28-7) recover from a unanimous decision loss to Corey Anderson in July 2018. The 39-year-old has been alternating wins and losses since 2016.
Even though Teixeira did not specify when he would like to take on Rua, a possible date for the event could be the upcoming UFC 237 card, which takes place in Curitiba, Brazil, Mauricio’s home town.
