Former light heavyweight champion Glover Teixeira was in Las Vegas last Saturday, attending UFC 324 with Alex Pereira. During a visit to the UFC Performance Institute, Teixeira met former lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. A video that went viral on social media and left many fans curious shows the two former champions doing some wrestling training. But according to the Brazilian it was not training.
“Khabib is an idol of the sport. Everyone wants to be like him, Anderson, Jon Jones, ‘Poatan’ – they are all great idols. When I saw him there at the PI leading a training for his students, I took the opportunity to ask him about the takedown he does by grabbing one leg,” Teixeira said. “Then he grabbed my arm and said come here and show me, and we joked a bit and he gave me some tips. Obviously all with great respect, because when Khabib speaks, we stop to listen.”Texeira did not provide any details about what was discussed backstage between Pereira’s team and the UFC during the event, but he remains hopeful that his protégé will fight Jon Jones at the White House.
“It’s the fight everyone would like to see, but ‘Poatan’ fights everyone,” Teixeira said. ‘If so [Ciryl] Gane for the interim belt, it would be his third belt, something no one has achieved so far. Let’s see what the UFC decides.”
Of the options on the table, Teixeira Khamzat seems to view Chimaev as the fight with the least chance of success.
“He just became middleweight champion and hasn’t even defended it. ‘Poatan’ is on another level,” Pereira said. “It’s complicated for me to say, but Poatan’s jab is harder than many straight punches. He has a punch that hurts. And it’s very difficult to take him down against the cage, and if you can, his ground defense is excellent. “Poatan would knock out Chimaev in the third round at most.”
Watch Glover Teixeira wrestle Khabib Nurmagomedov:
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