Daniel Cormier Doesn’t Believe Glover Teixeira Poses Any Threat
Newly crowned UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel “DC” Cormier is set to put his title on the line for the very first time against former title challenger Alexander “The Mauler” Gustafsson at UFC 192 on October 3, 2015.
However, there may be another contender waiting to get a crack at “DC”, who won the title with a third-round submission win over Anthony Johnson at May’s UFC 187 after former champion Jon Jones was pulled from the card following his arrest.
That contender would be another former title challenger in Brazilian slugger Glover Teixeira, who returned to action at this past weekend’s (August 8, 2015) UFC Fight Night 73, scoring a submission victory over the previously surging Ovince Saint-Preux.
After the bout, Teixeira spoke on the post-fight show about Cormier, stating that he’s gunning for the belt:
“I’m not a trash talker, but I’m calling you out,” Teixeira said on FOX Sports 1’s post-fight show. “He’s a great champion and he deserves to be champion. He’s the champion right now, who else am I going to come for?”
Cormier on the other hand, believes that Teixeira may be getting ahead of himself, as “DC” believes that there may a fighter or two in front of the Brazilian as far as title shots are concerned (via MMAJunkie):
“He keeps on (calling me out); he’s doing it time and time again,” Cormier said. “Listen, Glover Teixeira, great job. You fought well. You’ve got more work to do. Don’t go jumping the line. My man Rashad Evans, if he gets past Ryan Bader, deserves the next shot. Slow down Mr. Teixeira.”
The champion may have a point, as Evans and Bader are both ranked ahead of Teixeira, meaning the winner of that bout would make the most sense for the next title shot. Also, despite his impressive win on Saturday, Teixeira has only won one of his last three bouts.
Cormier doesn’t see the Brazilian as a threat, however, confidently proclaiming that Teixeira wouldn’t beat him, also noting that he believes that Teixeira needs more fights:
“Come on – that guy you saw fighting is not beating me,” Cormier said. “He did a good job but he’s not beating me. I saw improvement in his conditioning. What’s he going to do? Take me down repeatedly? Glover Teixeira needs more fights. I cannot say coming off a loss and one win shouldn’t get you a title fight. I got a title fight. Gustafsson got a title fight off a loss. We never really know what’s going to happen with Glover.”
However, at the end of the day, Cormier doesn’t see Teixeira being in his near future. After UFC 192, “DC” hopes to fight Jon Jones, if Jones’ legal troubles are resolved, and if not, Cormier would like to meet Evans, who the champion expects to get passed Bader at UFC 192:
“Truth is, honestly, if (Evans and I are) both victorious and we have some resolution to the Jon Jones, I would love to fight Jon Jones and Rashad would have to wait,” Cormier said. “If Jon Jones’ situation isn’t resolved, then Rashad will likely be next (if he beats Bader).”
With Jones’ future unclear, who stands as the biggest threat to Cormier’s throne?
