Glover Teixeira thinks he can beat Jon Jones
The man nobody wants to fight thinks he can defeat the man nobody can beat.
As Teixiera prepares for Fabio Maldanado at UFC 153 in Rio de Janerio, the Brazilian fighter with a healthy buzz has become the talk of the MMA world as both Shogun Rua and Rampage Jackson dropped out of the Teixiera sweepstakes due to either not wanting to face him or a mysterious injury. Stephan Bonnar was also presented the fight with Teixiera but he turned it down as well and said that he would only take on fighters with more Twitter followers than him.
“”It kind of sucks because I have to put in a few more fights in the UFC,” Teixiera said to MMA Fighting‘s Ariel Helwani. “I’m ready to fight those guys but they don’t want to fight because of the name, the Twitter followers and everything. It’s kind of hard for me. I like the old school.”
Despite the bigger names steering clear of Teixiera, the fighter with a 16 fight winning streak will get a chance to show the world what he’s got against Maldonado. A victory will likely propel him to the upper echelon of the division and closer to a showdown with current light heavyweight champion Jon Jones due to the 205 lbs kingpin swift work of the top names in his weight class. Although Teixiera feels that he’s still a few fights away from challenging Jones for the title, that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t think he can beat him.
“I train so hard and I have to believe in myself,” Teixiera said. “People are already saying I can challenge Jon Jones but I have a lot of work to put in (before) I can challenge him. But if they put me in a fight with Jon Jones right now, I’ll get the title.”
