Back, Glover Teixeira talks about the last fight: “I could have won”

After confirming his retirement from MMA, the historic Brazilian fighter, Glover Teixeira back in the Octagon, but in a different way. The veteran will enter a submission match, in the “UFC Fight Invitational“, which is basically no-gi jiu-jitsu. In an exclusive conversation with sportbuzzthe 43-year-old miner spoke about the tranquility for the preparation.

“ It’s much more relaxed than MMA, you know, grappling I’ve been doing for many years, it’s just a focus along with physical preparation. So I can enjoy things more, since my physical preparation is being done riding a bike, running, instead of being in the gym every day. In MMA it’s complicated, because you have to go sparring, come back, do the gauntlet, the next day you prepare, and the next jiu-jitsu, which is more exhausting. As now the focus is more on jiu-jitsu, I train three, four times a week”he said.

Check out the interview with Glover Teixeira in full:

In addition, Glover also spoke about his fight with Jon Jones, which took place in 2014. According to him, it was his hardest fight of his career: “I couldn’t get close to feeling him hurt. All other fights except the Anthony Johnson, which was a quick knockout, had that. But [a luta] I can say that Jon Jones was the most difficult, because I had five rounds with him, and there weren’t any moments when I thought he had felt a blow from me. even against the [Alexander] gustafsson, which was very difficult with regard to transportation, time zones and weight loss, there was a moment when I felt I would manage to win. Then, [contra] Jon Jones was the hardest”evaluated Glover Teixeira.

Close to the end of the conversation, Glover also commented on his retirement from MMA, which happened after the confrontation with jamahal hill, in January of this year. According to him, the environment in his family and the way the fight happened ended up being decisive for the decision, taken still in the octagon. Still, the happiness of his family members meant that there were no regrets.

“Jamahal (Hill) is a good guy, but I could have won, and he was fine for this fight, but the speed wasn’t the same. I got some takedowns, landed some punches. Another thing was the weigh-in, which was already being very difficult and I was thinking about winning the belt, defending it a few times and stopping. And since the fight was there, I lost and took a lot of punches, cuts, and broke my nose. I saw my wife crying before and after the fight as if she was thinking “thank god it’s over”. It was the whole week, this tension in the family, my sisters, mother, father, a lot of tension because I was 43 years old and fighting for the belt against much younger guys, at that moment, thinking about how the fight went, I ended up deciding like that, and everyone was very happy. My whole family supported me, and even for that I can’t say I regret it. I did everything I needed to do, MMA changed my life, and now it’s time to train the guys”he added.

Other answers from Glover Teixeira:

• How did MMA come into your life?

I came here [Estados Unidos] to work, and here I wanted to do boxing, but two or three weeks later they said I had to do jiu-jitsu. I said I didn’t even know what that was, and a guy showed me what it was, showing the Royce Gracie fighting in UFC 1, 2 and 3, rented the tapes and fell in love, I started wanting to be UFC champion.

I looked for the closest jiu-jitsu academy I had, went in and, six months later, had my first MMA fight. Of course, speaking to young people, who are very anxious, I lost my first fight. It didn’t go my way, but the trainers of the guy I fought were John Requelman It is Chuck Liddell. They said that I had the heart of a lion, that you could see that I’m not a technician, but that I had a lot of nerve. They invited me to train with them. Of course I went, I returned to my city, paid some outstanding bills and moved to California for good.

• How did you deal with physical preparation during your career?

I started old, right? When I started jiu-jitsu and moved to California, I was already 25 years old and people said that I was already older, that it was difficult to start and that I should go back to Brazil. I wanted to try. In my head I just thought I had to fight harder than everyone else and I couldn’t waste time. I’m a guy who’s had a history of ‘overtraining’, I’ve always overtrained. I think I always had a very strong mind and that was important.

When I got older it was calmer, because I got smarter, focused more on the body, since I already had the technique. That was important for me to stay in the top 10 of the UFC rankings since I joined. I retired at 43, in third place, I think all of that was important.

• More on the match with Jon Jones:

I was very confident as I had 20 straight wins. After that, I was very sure that I would win the belt. But I lost, it happened. I went back home and thought I had to see where I had gone wrong and get back on track. In fact, after that fight I relaxed a lot, I enjoyed fighting for the belt a bit after that loss, I stopped doing some important things and gained more weight. I even had my worst fight in the UFC in the sequence, against Phil Davis, and that’s when I took that ‘slap in the face’ of wondering if I was going to retire or dedicate myself 100%. It was at that moment that I got into eating, dedication, meditation. I had some ups and downs, but I made it to the top.

I don’t think I have, but if I had to choose a rematch today, it would be with jiri [Prochazka], because it was a fight that got choked up. I was winning the whole fight and lost the belt with 30 seconds left in the last round. So, if I had to put up a rivalry to want a rematch, it would be with Jiri Prochazka. But they are all opponents that I need to pass in order to win.

• Biggest inspirations in MMA:

there are many [nomes] to talk about, because there are many different times. I don’t like to say the best of all time, because you can’t compare someone like Rickson Gracie with those of now, because they are different moments, as well as Mohammed Ali It is mike tyson. But if I needed to talk right now, it would be Jon Jones and Khabib [Nurmagomedov]. In the past: Chuck Liddell It is Minotaur same. But who I most admire and have a real passion for are Chuck Liddell It is Minotaur.

* Under the supervision of Gabriela Santos