Glover Teixeira completed his fairytale run to the UFC light heavyweight title on Saturday night, submitting Jan Blachowicz in the main event of UFC 267 to become the second oldest champion in the company’s history.
Two days after turning 42, Teixeira finished Blachowicz with a neck crank in the second round, capping off an enthralling card on ‘Fight Island’ in Abu Dhabi. The Brazilian had previously challenged for the belt in 2014, when he was outpointed by Jon Jones, and his recent five-fight win streak seemed to represent a race against time to make one last run at the gold. And Teixeira produced a stunning display in the Etihad Arena to beat Blachowicz, the finish seeing the challenger take down the champion, before easing into mount position, taking his opponent’s back and flattening him out. From there, the Brazilian locked in a neck crank that forced Blachowicz to tap out immediately.
In the evening’s co-main event, Petr Yan outpointed Cory Sandhagen to win the interim bantamweight title, and elsewhere on the card, rising star Khamzat Chimaev returned after a 13-month absence to secure his fourth stoppage win from as many UFC outings. The Russian-born Swede, who had suffered badly from Covid-19 over the last year, submitted Li Jingliang in the first round of their contest, with the Chinaman passing out in a rear naked choke.
Re-live the UFC 267 main card and prelims below.
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