Even though he is in the midst of a later-career resurgence with a
six-bout winning streak, light heavyweight champ Glover
Teixeira is an underdog against Jiri
Prochazka in the
UFC 275 main event.
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Whether that’s betting odds or a recent poll on the Sherdog
website, the MMA world seems to expect Prochazka to emerge from
Saturday’s fight with the light heavyweight belt in tow. Some 19
months after facing the champion in a UFC on ESPN 17 headliner that
featured knockdowns from both fighters before Teixeira emerged with
a submission win in Round 3, Thiago
Santos envisions a similar ending at UFC 275.
“Styles make fights. If Prochazka keeps fighting the same way he
has been, always walking forward, he will fit perfectly into
Glover´s gameplan,” Santos told Sherdog.com. “[He] will use that to
take him down and, believe me, once he is on the top it is very
hard to remove him from there. Jiri´s best chance in
that fight would be to move laterally as much as he can
and try to get Glover tired in the later rounds.”
CATCH EVERY MOMENT OF UFC 275 ON ESPN+ The fact that Prochazka spent some
time training wrestling with Olympic gold medalist Henry
Cejudo was also taken into consideration by “Marreta.”
“Nobody turns into a wrestler with one or two months of practice,”
Santos said. “I’ve been training with Steve Mooco for five years at
American Top Team, and whenever I wrestle a professional they make
it look easy. The same way a grappler who trains for two months
can’t strike against someone like me, who has practiced capoeira
and muay Thai since I 14 years old. I believe Glover survive a
difficult time in the first round and submit Jiri in the second or
third.
Santos is currently beginning his camp to face Jamahal
Hill in the UFC on ESPN 40 main event on Aug. 6.
“I like to fight aggressive opponents like Hill. I truly hope
he fights against me like he fought [Johnny] Walker and [Jimmy]
Crute. I´m training hard to win this fight via KO or
submission,” Santos said.
If Teixeira wins on Saturday, Santos expects him to retire after
one more title defense.
“That would be the perfect scenario for me, because I don’t have
any intention of facing Glover again,” he said.
When asked to pick an opponent above him in the rankings if he
defeats Hill, Santos didn’t hesitate.
“I would love to fight Prochazka. As I said, style makes fights and
his crazy style fits perfectly with mine. I have no doubt I would
knock him out, making it look easy,” he said.