Who Saw This Coming?
By Eddie Sanchez
The other day I expressed my views on the Glover Teixeira-Thiago Santos matchup, as well as the implications following the rumors of Adesanya jumping the line for the next Light Heavyweight title shot. Like most within the industry, I expected Thiago Santos to walk out victorious.
Boy, was I wrong. The 41 year old went out there and completely dominated Thiago!
Don’t get me wrong, Thiago had his moments. Specifically, early on in the first round, he rocked Glover, but the vet weathered the storm and was able to score two knockdowns in the first round, while landing some solid shots via ground and pound.
In the second round, Glover went directly back to what was working. He effortlessly took down Thiago and controlled nearly the entire round from the ground. Thiago was successful with his defense to negate Glover’s attempts at gaining side control, but still had to exert much energy from his back. With five seconds left in the round, Glover locked in with a rear-naked choke, but Thiago was able to survive.
At this point, it was clear that Glover was dominating and Twitter was erupting. Once the third round started, Thiago understood he had to fight more aggressively. His takedown defense was shaky, so he knew he had to put in work on his feet. He completely rocked Glover to score a knock down and attempted to gain side control. Glover was able to absorb some of the harder elbows and eventually escaped to his feet and transitioned to Thiago’s back to score the final rear-naked choke where he ended the fight.
The announcers were going wild, Twitter was broken and there were immediate questions about the next title opportunity, given the rumors a few days earlier.
Glover Teixeira was smelling his roses and feeling his moment. He is now in line to fight for the title, but the question now is when? He made sure to pitch his candidacy post-fight and many fans and professionals within the industry agreed with him.
Dana responded shortly after via interview and stated, “I agree with him, and I’m taking him serious.”
Now, I’m no expert in linguistics, but that statement comes off too laissez faire for my taste.
I believe others got similar impressions as I did and I surely hope that Dana reconsiders his plans for Izzy getting the immediate title shot. Glover has earned his opportunity with five victories in a row, plus Izzy is not in a position where he is desperate to move up because of weight limitations. He is simply looking to build his brand going forward.
Jan Blachowicz deserves a true defense opportunity and Glover deserves his opportunity to fight for the title. Regardless of who comes out on top, the fight following could be with Izzy and it would be much more significant. Jan would have two victories in title fights and would not be represented as a false-champion if Izzy were to beat him. Glover is a legend in the sport and would be a huge fight.
Personally, I hope Glover gets the opportunity he deserves, and wins it. Then I’d like to have him take on Izzy directly after. This would provide great storyline opportunities regarding their age and place in the UFC and would be much more marketable given their name-power.
In the immediate, fans can state their cases in support of Glover on social media and hope that Dana does right by the veteran. Time will tell what happens next, but based on last night, it’s safe to say everyone saw what is deserved.
