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Glover Teixeira was 28 seconds away from winning his UFC 275 title fight against Jiri Prochazka via judges' decision. Based on the scorecards, Teixeira was up three rounds to one coming into the fifth round. If the fight went the distance, 'Old Man Glover' would have held onto his light heavyweight belt.
Unfortunately for Teixeira, 'BJP' grabbed a desperate rear-naked choke and squeezed with everything he had, forcing Teixeira to tap in the last few moments of the fight.
In an interview with Combate, Glover Teixeira was asked if he knew there was less than half a minute left on the clock when he tapped. He replied:
"I knew there was barely any time left, but there was no way around it. If I knew, I would have been put to sleep. If I didn't tap, I was going to black out, because what was right there was that I hadn't turned my back. But hey, man, it's hard to say. It was tight, it was in deep, it fit perfectly, my neck hurts here."
When asked if he felt any frustration at being so close to winning and then losing like he did, Glover Teixeira said:
"I'm a guy that I'm grateful for in life. I'm grateful for everything I have, for everything I've done, I'm a guy that what comes to me I have to accept with joy and gratitude. But it's hard to swallow a defeat like that. I want an immediate rematch."
Glover Teixeira isn't the only one who wants to see a rematch. Fans and fighters were buzzing about the possibility of Prochazka vs. Teixeira 2. According to Michael Bisping, several UFC executives were also interested in setting up a second fight.
Although Dana White wasn't in Singapore, his wild reaction at the end of the fight implies that he's also a fan of how the bout went and might get on board with signing an immediate rematch.
Glover Teixeira explains why Jiri Prochazka should agree to an immediate rematch
In the same interview with Combate, Glover Teixeira made his case for a second fight. He said:
"I think I deserve this rematch for what I put in there. He deserves this rematch because it was a narrow victory. He took it, but you saw that he wasn't cool, he wasn't so happy, he kept saying that his performance was not good, so let's go. Yours wasn't good, mine wasn't either. Let's go back now. It was one of the best fights of recent times and we will do it again."
Jiri Prochazka takes his responsibilities as a champion seriously and said he will happily face whoever the UFC chooses. That doesn't mean he doesn't have a preference. Following UFC 275, Prochazka said Jan Blachowicz made the most sense to be his next opponent in a "Battle for Europe" matchup.
Fight fans can check out the video below for additional updates in the MMA world:
