Daniel Cormier defends Glover Teixeira's conduct in UFC 282 controversy: 'he would have done the same'

G. Teixeira (photo) would compete for the light heavyweight belt in the UFC 282. Photo: Reproduction/Instagram

In the final stretch of preparation for the rematch against Jiri Prochazka for the light heavyweight belt (up to 93kg), Glover Teixeira was surprised by the serious injury suffered by the champion, who ended up relinquishing the title, and ended up “watching ships” when the UFC decided that Jan Blachowicz e Magomed Ankalayev would compete for the division's vacant belt.

Despite Glover's loss, Daniel Cormier, also a former champion of the division, believes that the Brazilian made the right decision by not accepting to face Magomed Ankalayev with so little notice.

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“He (Glover) doesn’t have time to rebuild. He is 43 years old. When you get to that age, you have to capitalize. At the age of 30, when he had won 18 in a row, Glover had time to build his way to a title shot against Jones, lose, rebuild his way to a decisive fight against me, lose, rebuild his way to becoming champion, because he had time. At 43 he no longer has time. So you have to be very selective. It's a young man's game. You can run the risk of being 'run over' by Ankalaev, because the guy is good. You can literally embarrass yourself, so what? So I think it was a smart decision by Teixeira”, said Cormier.

In Cormier's opinion, the “unknown” factor brought by Magomed Ankalayev presents high risk and low reward for Glover.

“I don’t disagree with Glover. If I were in the same situation, with Ankalaev, I would have done the same. There are many unknown factors for a guy who is not necessarily known to the general public, who is not a guy who everyone recognizes as a great challenger, because Magomed has not been in the game for that long and has not yet shared the Octagon with people capable of making him so as recognizable as you need to be to be seen as such”, he concluded.

Magomed Ankalayev e Jan Blachowicz face each other for the light heavyweight belt (up to 93kg) in the main fight of the UFC 282, which takes place on December 10th, at the T-Mobile Arena, in Las Vegas, in the United States.

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