Glover Teixeira's Beautiful Journey

The champion that night was Jon Jones, six successful title defenses into his reign and at the height of his powers.

“When I fought Jon Jones, they were already talking about him being one of the greatest,” said Teixeira. “Then you go in with that pressure.”

Any fight for the title, especially against a fighter of Jones’ caliber, is high-pressure. But add in the fact that many believed the 22-2 Teixeira, unbeaten for eight years, was going to upset “Bones,” and there were a lot of expectations on the Brazilian’s shoulders.

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“I think for the Jones fight I put too much pressure on myself,” he said. “I did the camp too long, and the whole situation when it came to fight week, I was already very stressed out and I just wanted to get it over with.”

Five rounds later, Jones had a unanimous decision win and the belt remained in his possession. Teixeira was forced to regroup, and while he picked up some big wins in the next few years over the likes of Ovince Saint Preux, Rashad Evans, Jared Cannonier and Misha Cirkunov, by the time 2018 ended, he was 5-4 since the Jones bout and far from another shot at the title.

Yet he never stopped believing.

“No, not really, but there have been moments right after fights,” he said when asked if he ever lost sight of the dream of being a world champion. “After I lost a fight, you're kinda like…in Brazil we would say you hit the post. I fought Anthony Johnson and (Alexander) Gustafsson and I was fighting in title eliminators, and when I lost those fights, you get discouraged for a moment. But I'm always positive, I go back to the drawing board, I go back and I train and I feel good in training and fix stuff here and there and it comes to a point where I do some changing over here and go from there. And it worked. So far, it's been great, and I've been enjoying it more and more.”

To see a comeback like this unfold before your eyes is a remarkable thing no matter who the man or woman is behind it, but to see Teixeira pull this off and be a win away from a world championship is one of the best feel good stories of the last several years not because of the degree of difficulty, but because the Connecticut resident is the good guy’s good guy, and an ambassador of the sport of the highest order. To do that when things are going well is one thing; to maintain that integrity when you’re at your lowest is quite a feat.

“Listen, it's the most difficult thing in the world if you're not a nice guy and you pretend to be one,” Teixeira said. “I know that some people do that and eventually, the mask is gonna come off. People say that to me all the time, 'Glover, you're super nice, I'm rooting for you.' I appreciate that you root for me, but don't root for me because I'm a nice guy. I'm gonna be nice no matter what. This is the way I live my life and I believe that it's better for me. It's not a benefit for other people. I'm not nice to people because it benefits other people; it's because it benefits me. I love to be like this, it's fun, it's great, and that's the way I've been my whole life.”

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Want to know how people feel about Glover Teixeira? Ask Anthony Smith, who engaged in a punishing 2020 bout with the Brazilian, who won via fifth-round TKO. He has only high praise for the man who defeated him, and it has nothing to do with his fighting ability. The feeling is mutual.

“How cool is that guy?” said Teixeira. “He's probably one of the nicest guys in UFC. All the guys that I fight, I have big respect for them.”

And not just the ones he’s beaten. Teixeira recalls a student of his from his Danbury gym noting that he always saw the longtime contender being nice with fighters he beat. That was before a trip to Las Vegas, where Teixeira and “Rumble” Johnson were having a good time razzing each other long after Johnson’s 13-second finish of Teixeira in 2016.