Brazilian Glover Teixeira, 42, won the UFC light heavyweight belt (Ultimate Fighting Championship) this Saturday (30), with a submission victory over Polish Jan Blachowicz, 38.
The bout was held in Abu Dhabi, in the arena known as Ilha da Luta, which hosted UFC 267. In the second round, Glover overcame the Pole by choke to become the second oldest champion in the MMA organization. The leader in this statistic is the American Randy Couture, who did it when he was 45 years old.
“I have no words to describe it,” Glover said after the win. Due to his age, the Brazilian saw the chance as the last of his career.
In 2014, he lost his first chance after being defeated by American Jon Jones. Seven years later, the miner said in an interview with sheet who believed that the experience accumulated after that defeat, added to a change in habits, could be decisive for his success.
“When the pandemic came, I had to stop training, I was isolated in that boredom and that’s when I started reading. I realized that we are not in control of anything in this life and I started to change my mood, I relaxed and I dedicated myself to thinking about life,” he said during the preparation for the fight in Adu Dhabi.
The “Autobiography of a Yogi”, written by Paramahansa Yogananda (1893-1952), an Indian who spread yoga in the US in the first half of the 20th century, was at the Brazilian’s bedside for the last month.
“I believe I lost some fights because of a lot of training, because I went over the limit, which is overtraining. I’m sure I had some problems with that,” said Glover. “Now, I can train better and focus more. With reading, I take away all those mindless thoughts that come and go.”
At the time he fought Jon Jones, he used to do up to nine workouts a week at high intensity. Currently, to preserve your body, alternate between three hard workouts and three with lighter exercises.
There is also greater care with food and, above all, with rest periods. Discipline is the word he most likes to emphasize, including for students at the academy he set up in Danbury, Connecticut, USA, where he has lived since 1999, when he arrived as an illegal immigrant.
Glover was between 17 and 18 years old when he decided to leave the city of Sobrália, about 300 km from Belo Horizonte, in Minas Gerais, towards the United States. He entered the country crossing the border through Mexico, with the help of “coyotes”, who sell the illegal crossing.
After leaving his homeland, he passed through Colombia, traveled to Guatemala, from where he departed by car to cross Mexico to the city of Tijuana, where he spent 13 days waiting for the fog to settle in order to pass through the desert.
In 2008, the fighter lost his chance to sign a contract with the UFC because of his illegal status in the country. He was eventually deported when local authorities learned of the situation.
Back in Brazil, he spent three years in Sobrália, until the end of 2011, a period that lasted the bureaucratic procedure, including the payment of a fine, until he got a green card, a visa that allows foreigners to reside and work permanently in the US.
With the situation regularized, the Brazilian was finally able to sign a contract with the UFC. Today, his record has 33 wins and 7 losses, in addition to the title of light heavyweight champion.
The other Brazilians currently holding UFC titles are Charles do Bronx and Amanda Nunes.
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