Age is no barrier. Glover Teixeira at 42 years old has stunned the UFC world, becoming the second-oldest champion in history after a stunning submission victory over Jan Blachowicz.
Age is no barrier and now at 42 years old Glover Teixeira is the new UFC light heavyweight champion.
With his stunning submission victory over Jan Blachowicz, Teixeira became the second-oldest champion in history and oldest first-time champion.
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This was it for Teixeira.
Back in 2014 he unsuccessfully challenged then-champion Jon Jones for the UFC light heavyweight title.
Now, 2,744 days later, he got his final shot and against Blachowicz, who was making his second title defence and on a five-fight win streak.
So was Teixeira though but still few could believe he was even here.
Yet here he was, making history and at 42 years old.
“Never give up on your dreams, no matter what people say, don’t listen to them,” he said after the fight.
“I’m breaking the rules, 42 years old. And I’m gonna keep breaking the rules.”
Teixeira got the advantage in the first round with an early takedown and tried for similar on two occasions in the second but Blachowicz was able to stay upright.
The fight started to open up when Blachowicz landed a hard uppercut, with Teixeira hitting back soon after with a hard left hook.
The challenger though executed his gameplan with a rear-naked choke to force Blachowicz into submission, leaving the ESPN commentary team stunned.
“Teixeira has done it,” Jon Amik said in commentary.
“Unbelievable. It took him so long to get here, he is now the second-oldest UFC champion in history.”
Daniel Cormier called it a “miracle” for Teixeira, who is still at the top of his game after 20 years in MMA.
“Tremendous,” he said.
“To watch a man after all this time, never giving up on himself after 20 years, inspiring stuff. Do you believe in miracles? We saw one tonight.
“I’m almost in tears.”
Paul Felder simply described it as “Hollywood stuff”.
“This is a movie playing out in front of us,” he added.
“He brought the fight and dominated. We can’t say there was anything lucky about it.”
As for what is next for Teixeira, he called out Jiri Prochazka after the fight.
“He’s the next one,” he declared.
“Come up here buddy, you next.”
It capped off what was a highly entertaining night of action in the cage, with plenty of drama earlier in the morning.
FULL CARD RESULTS
Main Card
Glover Teixeira def. Jan Blachowicz via submission (rear naked choke) — light heavyweight title
Petr Yan def. Cory Sandhagen via unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 49-46)
Islam Makhachev def. Dan Hooker via submission (kimura)
Alexander Volkov def. Marcin Tybura via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Khamzat Chimaev def. Li Jingliang via submission (rear naked choke)
Magomed Ankalaev def. Volkan Oezdemir via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Prelims
Amanda Ribas def. Virna Jandiroba via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Zubaira Tukhugov def. Ricardo Ramos via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Albert Duraev def. Roman Kopylov via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-27, 29-27)
Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos def. Benoit Saint Denis via unanimous decision (29-26, 29-26, 29-26)
Michal Oleksiejczuk def. Shamil Gamzatov via TKO
Lerone Murphy def. Makwan Amirkhani via KO
Andre Petroski def Hu Yaozong via submission (head and arm choke)
Tagir Ulanbekov def. Allan Nascimento via split decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29)
Originally published as ‘I have chills’: Records broken in UFC fairytale