UFC Jacksonville: Teixeira Pummels Smith For Easy Win
At the age of 40, Glover Teixeira has managed to become a potential title contender for the first time since 2014. He ended up doing so at the expense of the health of Anthony Smith. Inside the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, Teixeira dominated Smith, winning the fight via TKO.
Smith (33-15) started the bout hot right away, giving fans a different feel of him compared to his UFC Light Heavyweight Title bout against Jon Jones. He hit combination strikes that had Teixeira (31-7) bleeding by the nose. It appeared as if the fight was going to stay towards his advantage.
The tide quickly turned after that one round.
Teixeira landed clean shots in the second, including a left hook and a spinning kick. By the third round, Teixeira landed a body shot that might have been a difference-maker. One thing that could have helped Smith was the fact that Teixeira went to the floor and tried to go for a win via submission. Before he came to his senses, however, Smith had nothing for him.
"The left hook puts Smith down face first!"@gloverteixeira turns up the pressure 😤 #UFCJax pic.twitter.com/3fKQspfl9R
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) May 14, 2020
After what seemed like a 10-8 round, Teixeira would continue to land clean uppercut shots. He hit combination shots and started clubbing Smith on the floor in the fourth, forcing him to bleed by the ear. It was at this point that referee Jason Herzog could have stopped the fight. The corner of Smith could have also stopped it once Smith said he lost some teeth.
"My teeth are falling out."@lionheartasmith is next-level tough 😳 #UFCJax pic.twitter.com/VAEINpvJko
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) May 14, 2020
After stalling for a few more minutes, the referee finally called the fight off for the TKO-win. In total, Teixeira landed 202 strikes and landed 138 significant strikes according to the UFC’s stats page. With the win, Teixeira moved into third all-time in UFC light heavyweight wins with 14. Ranked eighth in the UFC’s light heavyweight rankings, we could see him in the top five by the beginning of next week.
“You’ve got to open your mind,” Teixeira stated after the fight. “You’ve got to look for help when things are going wrong. That’s what I did, baby! I’m on another run towards the title.”
Teixeira is now on a four-fight win streak and is 5-1 in his last six fights. The last time he was on a streak of four+ wins, Teixeira earned a shot at the champion in Jones. Smith is now 2-2 in his last four fights, the other loss coming against Jones.