Teixeira stuns Blachowicz by submission to win UFC belt

At age 42, and after many ups and downs throughout his 19-year career, Glover Teixeira has finally reached the top of the UFC light heavyweight division.

Teixeira shocked Jan Blachowicz with a rear-naked choke at the 3:02 mark in the second round of the UFC 267 main event to win the 205-pound title in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

The Brazilian fighter secured a takedown midway through the round and quickly advanced to full mount. He transitioned to take Blachowicz's back, flattened him out, and wrapped up the submission that forced the former champion to tap out.

Teixeira became the oldest fighter in UFC history to win a title for the first time and the second-oldest UFC champion behind Randy Couture, who held gold at 45 years old.

"Never give up on your dreams," Teixeira said in his postfight interview, according to ESPN's Marc Raimondi. "No matter what people say, don't listen to them. They're gonna put you down. Don't listen to those negative people. Believe in yourself."

Teixeira got off to a tremendous start in a one-sided first round, scoring an early takedown and smothering Blachowicz with pressure and strikes on the ground.

Both fighters had some moments in the second round before the finish, with Blachowicz opening up more in the striking department and defending Teixeira's initial takedown attempts. Teixeira tagged Blachowicz with a left hook - his best strike of the fight - moments before taking him to the ground and snatching his neck.

Teixeira earned a title shot by submitting Thiago Santos in October 2020 and has now won six straight fights. He hasn't fallen short in the Octagon since a decision loss to Corey Anderson in July 2018.

At that point in his career, Teixeira was 2-3 across five fights and written off as a legitimate title contender in the division by most. He then put together his current winning streak, which led him to the fight against Blachowicz, beating Karl Roberson, Ion Cutelaba, Nikita Krylov, Anthony Smith, and finally Santos.

Blachowicz became the light heavyweight champion with an upset win over Dominick Reyes in September 2020. He defended the belt once in March against middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, exploiting a weakness in Adesanya's takedown defense.

Blachowicz, who was also once not a top contender and nearly released by the UFC, saw his five-fight winning streak come to an end.