Glover Teixeira was 28 seconds away from defending his UFC light heavyweight title against Jiri Prochazka at UFC 275 before he tapped to a rear-naked choke in Singapore. And even though the Brazilian recognizes that jumping for a guillotine after rocking Prochazka on his feet in the fifth round was a mistake, he doesn’t regret doing it.
“Instinct? Teixeira stated this on a special episode of MMA Fighting podcast Trocacao Franka . “He put his head down and his neck fell right into my guillotine. He gave it to my, but I refused to go after it. Of course, I could be more patient. It was almost like I jumped the gun. He caught me the same way that he did with me. We think when someone gets tired and hurt, you can catch them with a pistol and they’ll quickly tap. Sometimes he even goes out fast too.
” I’ve said it all: Anyone can submit anybody [in MMA]. Roger Gracie, the greatest jiu jitsu player in the world, can be in that group. If someone knocks him down and he’s hurt, you can get him with a rear-naked choke. Rodolfo Vieira will be your jiu jitsu partner. You won’t get him. But it does happen in MMA. And it happened with me.
“But the guillotine, man — I feel like crying watching it again. F***,” he continued
“There’s a lot that goes on in a fight and you’ll learn from it. “I could have done that or that.” I never lose the ability to go back and fix any mistakes. It’s what it is. But it is what it is.”
Teixeira said the fight played out exactly as he expected, with him “dominating” Prochazka on the ground with his jiu-jitsu and wrestling for the majority of the bout.
Ultimately, though, there was no escape from Prochazka’s fight-ending submission.
“Someone will say, ‘F***, he was on the side, there’s no [reason to tap]. How did he tap?’ I tapped,” Teixeira said. There’s no other way. I tap because I am almost desperate. I even stayed on the ground until the fight was over. All went dark. I was already going out. Not tapping wouldn’t have changed the result of the fight.
“But I dominated the jiu-jitsu [exchanges] the entire time. There were some times I dominated on the feet, too. There were some times I lost on the feet, but I always dominated on the ground. Although I did fall to the ground a couple of times, my opponent never lost his mind and continued to defend his pound. That’s the reality, I dominated on the ground but was caught in the last minute. A punch is a dominating punch that lands .”
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The biggest lesson from UFC 275, Teixeira said, is to “stay alert at all times and never think you’re better than someone else in a position.”
The experienced Brazilian had never been submitted prior to UFC 275 in his 20-year MMA career, despite having fought the who’s who of the light heavyweight class.
“I thought his chances of winning would be by knocking me out, landing a flying knee, an elbow,” Teixeira said. That’s exactly what I thought before the fight. ‘This man has the chance, and I must be alert. But, on the floor, man, that never crossed my mind. “He will try to do that, to submit me,” I thought he would. For four and a half rounds, I saw exactly the same scenario — him trying my best to knock me off the floor and me landing good hands. Maybe catching him with the counter and dominating the ground. It worked for the entire four-and-a half rounds.
“I never underestimate anyone, never think I’ll submit everyone in the first round. The submission is my priority, and that’s why I stated you should live by the sword. Fans love that. That’s what I do, and I have no regrets doing it, but the lesson is to always be alert. It happened for the first time in my career, and it is what it is. Life is good
