Former UFC light heavyweight champion Glover Teixeira felt disrespected when UFC opted to have Jan Blachowicz and Magomed Ankalaev’s duke it out for the vacant belt after Jiri Prochazka got injured.
Teixeira and Jiri Prochazka were scheduled to rematch for the light heavyweight title at UFC 282 in December.
Prochazka regrettably stated that he suffered a serious shoulder injury during training camp, and the bout was called off.
According to reports Prochazka was first injured a week ago and tried to tough it out. Some speculate that Khamzat Chimaev’s proclamation that he would be taking on Alex Pereira at UFC 282 had everything to do with this.
Prochazka reportedly vacated the belt and is looking at a year off in best case scenario considering his shoulder injury was characterised as worst UFC doctor had seen at the Performance Institute.
Teixeira gave an interview in Portuguese in which he slammed UFC for skipping hiim and going with Blachowicz and Ankalaev instead.
Ariel Helwani best summarized the situation in a video:
“Basically around a week ago in Las Vegas, Prochazka seriously injured his shoulder. He tried to fight through it, said that he would fight with one arm.”
“Was told essentially by doctors that he could damage his shoulder forever if he fought with this injury. It’s going to need surgery. He’s going to be out for at least a year. Couple that with the six months that he’s been out since the last fight. That’s 18 months. There was some talk of interim. Ultimately, UFC felt like they had to move on and do a vacant title.”
“Well, very recently today they reached out to Glover Teixeira and they offered him a vacant title fight on December 10th against Magomed Ankalaev. Glover Considering how long he’s been in the game, I actually just spoke to him. Felt like he didn’t have enough time to prepare for Ankalaev, who’s a completely different opponent. He said, Why not me versus Jan on December 10th?”
“UFC said, No, we’ve seen this already. Jan is up there in age. We want to go with Ankalaev versus you. He said, All right, let’s do me versus Ankalaev in Brazil. And in in late January they said, No, we need the title fight for this card. Of course, it’s the only one. It’s you versus Ankalaev or we’re moving on.”
“He said, I can’t take this fight on such short notice. I need more time to prepare for him. So they’re going with Ankalaev versus Jan as a vacant title fight on December 10th a year. He obviously out for quite some time. Glover hoping that he’ll fight the winner. No guarantee as of that just yet. He’s very upset. He’s frustrated.”
“He’s disappointed. He feels like, you know, just a few more weeks would have been would have been fair, considering all he’s done.”
Teixeira told Super Lutas’ YouTube channel.
He said, “I felt a little disrespected… Given everything I’ve done for this company. I’m a bit sad about this whole situation. Why wouldn’t they let me fight Jan? It’s two old timers fighting again, but it would sell more than this Ankalaev fight. We’re two heavy-hitters. It would sell more for sure, no disrespect to Ankalaev. He’s just not that well-known here in America. Maybe he is in Russia, I don’t know. Honestly, I don’t understand these things that they do.”
After Glover Teixeira was denied the opportunity to compete in the championship, Jiri Prochazka expressed his regret.
Prochazka addressed his followers in a video that was broadcast on Instagram after making his declaration. The video began with Prochazka professing regret to his fictitious rival and assuring his fans that he will return to recover the belt.
“I have to say sorry to Glover… I canceled that fight so [close] to the fight. And that’s life. So congratulations to Ankalaev and Blachowicz for the title chance. But still, I feel like a champion and after I will be back, I will come for the title and more. My targets are higher than just the title. I’ll be back.”