Glover Teixeira 'Upset' and 'Disappointed' with UFC, Feels Pushing Fight Back 'Would Have Been Fair'
Ariel Helwani recently spoke to Glover Teixeira and his team regarding Prochazka's title vacation and the new championship bout between Jan Blachowicz and Magomed Ankalaev.
According to Helwani, Prochazka's injury took place around a week ago at the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas. He originally wished to fight through it and would "fight with one arm" if necessary. Unfortunately, doctors told him the injury was so severe that fighting would risk permanent and irreversible damage.
There was talk of an interim title, but the UFC chose to move on and put on a vacant title fight. They reached out to Glover Teixeira earlier today and offered him a chance to fight Magomed Ankalaev for the undisputed title. Teixeira felt as though he didn't have enough time to prepare for the new opponent and asked to face Blachowicz instead.
The UFC cited Blachowicz's age coupled with the fact that the two had already fought and turned down the proposal. They insisted the Ankalaev fight be made. Teixeira asked for a different compromise and wanted to fight Ankalaev in Brazil in late January. UFC denied it, saying that there must be a title for UFC 282, "It's you vs. Ankalaev or we're moving on."
Glover could not take the fight on such short notice without proper preparation, and so the UFC announced Jan Blachowicz vs. Magomed Ankalaev as the new main event for the vacant title.
Glover hopes he'll fight the winner but there are 'no guarantees' just yet. He's very upset, frustrated, and disappointed. He feels like just a few more weeks would have been fair considering all he's done for the promotion. He also feels as though a rematch vs. Blachowicz would have been a bigger fight than what the UFC decided on.
