Glover Teixeira Says He’s “Going to be Here For a While”, But is Another Title Run in The Cards?

Glover Teixeira made sure he remains a top 15 ranked light-heavyweight at UFC Fort Lauderdale, by scoring a thrilling, submission win over Ion Cutelaba. Afterward, the 39-year-old star announced he’s going to be around “for a while”, but is another title run in the cards for Teixeira?

If you saw Saturday’s event, then you know things weren’t looking good for Teixeira early on. Cutelaba appeared to rock the Brazilian fighter on several occasions, and he also defended several, takedown attempts from the vet. But, in round two, Teixeira came roaring back and proceeded to secure a fight-ending, rear-naked-choke.

Well, Teixeira could be seen talking to Dana White after the win, and while speaking to the media afterward, he said this (quotes via MMA Junkie):

“I said, ‘I’ll be here for a little while,’” Teixeira said. “I want to retire in this octagon, and I want to keep fighting right here. I deserve to be here.”

“…I wanted to finish this fight by submission because I want that record. Now I’m tied with Jon Jones for the most submissions at light heavyweight. I’m pretty happy about that.”

“For me, I need to get the winning streak and say that I deserve to be here,” Teixeira said

Now, there’s no question that Saturday’s win served as another reminder of how ridiculously tough and well rounded Teixeira is. Not only did Teixeira come back from taking some heavy shots, but the heavy-handed fighter scored yet another submission win, as he alluded to above. Teixeira also took out yet another 205’er who has some serious buzz as a future contender.

But, is another title run realistic at this juncture?

Well, if you take a close look at the stats from UFC Fort Lauderdale, Cutelaba outstruck Teixeira by a 74 to 35 margin. The 25-year-old was clearly the faster fighter, and he also defended 7 takedown attempts from Glover. So, one might look at these, coupled with a top 15 that includes fighters like Johnny Walker, Dominick Reyes, Volkan Oezdemir, Thiago Santos and Anthony Smith, and question Teixeira’s chances (and that list doesn’t include fighters like Alexander Gustafsson and Corey Anderson who have already defeated him).

All that said, when you’ve been at the top as long as Teixeira has, the path back to title shot contention is often shorter. Further, people have underestimated Teixeira before and he’s proven them wrong. So, while the odds appeared to be stacked against the respected star, you just never know.