After having his lengthy winning streak snapped at the hands of the world’s top pound-for-pound fighter, Glover Teixeira appears to have a stiff test on his hands to get back on track.
According to a report from Brazil’s Combate news site, Teixeira (22-3 MMA, 5-1 UFC) has verbally agreed to fight Phil Davis (12-2 MMA, 8-2 UFC) this fall, potentially at UFC 179 in Rio de Janeiro. Combate cited sources close to the UFC, but the promotion has not yet announced the fight.
The UFC 179 pay-per-view is set for Oct. 25 at Maracanazinho Gymnasium in Rio. The event currently has just one bout set – a featherweight title headliner between champ Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes, a rematch from their UFC 142 fight, which also took place in Rio.
The matchup could be an intriguing one, given many thought Davis should have been ahead of Teixeira in the pecking order for a shot at Jon Jones’ light heavyweight title this past spring. But it was the Brazilian who got the shot at UFC 172, with Davis in the co-feature position against Anthony Johnson.
Teixeira in April challenged Jones for the belt, and while he became just the fifth opponent to ever take Jones the distance, it was little solace as he was dominated in the fight, losing with a trio of 50-45 scores.
That loss snapped a 20-fight winning streak for U.S.-trained Brazilian, including a perfect 5-0 start to his UFC career that included stoppages of Kyle Kingsbury, Fabio Maldonado, James Te Huna and Ryan Bader, and a dominant decision win over Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.
Davis is no stranger to Brazil. Twice in his past four fights, the American has gone into enemy territory and done what statistically has been a tall order in the UFC by beating a Brazilian in his home country. At UFC 153, he choked out Wagner Prado in Rio. And at UFC 163 a year ago this weekend, he took a unanimous decision from former light heavyweight champion and recent middleweight title challenger Lyoto Machida, stunning the Rio crowd.
The win over Machida gave him three straight. But in a fight against Johnson that could have inched him closer to a title shot, where he was in 2012 when he lost to Rashad Evans in an elimination fight, Davis was dominated by “Rumble” and was swept on the scorecards at UFC 172.
Wins for each fighter are crucial, as a two-fight skid in the increasingly loaded 205-pound division could mean a long climb back to contention.
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Statistics: Posted by moose84 — Jul 31. 2014, 08:16 — Replies 0 — Views 6
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