Glover Teixeira says UFC belt ‘going to be mine’ after UFC Fight Night 28 win

By Case Keefer (contact)

Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2013 | 8:45 p.m.

Jon Jones earned the opportunity to win his UFC light heavyweight championship belt by finishing Ryan Bader in the second round of a fight 2 1/2 years ago.

Glover Teixeira pulled off the same deed in the main event of UFC Fight Night 28 Wednesday in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, only in the first round and more than six minutes before Jones. Now the Brazilian, a winner of 19 in a row dating back seven years, gets his shot at the light heavyweight title.

“I’m telling you, this belt is going to be mine,” Teixeira said immediately afterward in the octagon. “I don’t care if it’s Jon Jones or if it’s (Alexander) Gustafsson, it’s mine.”

Jones and Gustafsson face off in the main event of UFC 165 on Sept. 21 in Toronto, and Teixeira gets the winner. He looks like a formidable challenge to either.

While Teixeira steamrolled his first four UFC opponents with virtually no resistance, he came back from some adversity against Bader. The former Arizona State wrestler dropped Teixeira with a combination of punches in the opening minute and then swarmed him with a choke hoping for a tap out.

But Teixeira fought through and turned the tables, knocking Bader down and getting the referee to stop the fight with ensuing ground-and-pound.

“To tell you the truth, I wasn’t happy with this fight,” Teixeira said. “I was disappointed he was able to knock me to the ground.”

Check below for results from the rest of UFC Fight Night 28.

Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza was perhaps even more impressive than Teixeira in the co-main event, but the middleweight was far less animated in the aftermath. Souza defeated Okami by TKO at 2:47 of the first round, the fastest the Japanese veteran has ever been finished. But the Brazilian didn’t call for a title shot or even celebrate, as he explained he injured his foot in the fight.

Joseph Benavidez notched his third TKO victory in five fights since dropping to flyweight. Benavidez finished Jussier Formiga with a combination at 3:07 of the first round to extend his winning streak to three.

Piotr Hallmann submitted Francisco Trinaldo with a kimura at 3:50 of the second round for a successful UFC debut in the lightweight division.

Rafael Natal beat Tor Treong by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28) in a middleweight bout.

A Russian flyweight prospect has arrived in the octagon. Ali Bagautinov defeated Marcos Vinicius by third-round TKO at 3:28.

Edimilson Souza won a split decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29) over Felipe Arantes in a featherweight bout to finish off the preliminary card.

Lucas Martins submitted Junior Hernandez with a rear-naked choke at 1:10 of the first round in their bantamweight bout.

In welterweight action, Elias Silverio won a unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28) over Joao Zeferino.

Ivan Jorge defeated Keith Wisniewski by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28) in a welterweight bout that kicked off the televised portion of the card.

Yuri Villefort was on the wrong side of a split decision for his first fight in the UFC. And now also in his second. Two of the three judges — by scores of 30-27 and 29-28 as opposed to one 28-29 — awarded Sean Spencer a win over Villefort.

Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.