As his first light heavyweight title defense draws near, the finish
line is in sight for Glover
Teixeira.
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Teixiera is scheduled to face Jiri
Prochazka in the UFC 275 main event on June 11 at Singapore
Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore. The 42-year-old Brazilian has
his ideal scenario laid out, which of course begins with a win over
Prochazka.
“The perfect plan would be winning this fight, which I have full
focus on,” Teixeira said on the
Mundo da Luta podcast (translation via
MMAFighting.com). “And fighting one last time in November, in
New York, which is close to the city I live for 20 years, and close
to my gym. It would be my farewell from fighting. That’s what I’m
thinking right now.”
The UFC has not announced an event for New York, but November is
typically when the Las Vegas-based promotion travels to the Empire
State, including UFC 268 last year. If Teixeira does call it a
career, he wants his retirement to stick. That isn’t so common in
MMA.
“I’ll be 43 in November,” he said. “Regardless of being at the top,
being the best of the world or not, I wanna stop this year. It will
probably be my last year. I don’t wanna make this decision after a
fight, but it’s what I’ve been thinking for a while. I don’t wanna
retire like [Henry] Cejudo, who keeps asking for a fight all the
time. I want to retire and stay cool.
“I think that’s the perfect plan. The perfect plan is to retire
with the belt this year, but we have a lot to do. We have to see if
it could be in New York, and I still have to beat a guy that is
tough as hell. That’s my idea.”
Teixiera is in the midst of a late-career resurgence that saw him
capture light heavyweight gold with a second-round submission of
Jan
Blachowicz in the UFC 267 main event this past October. He has
won his last six fights dating back to January 2019.