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Teixeira was in Las Vegas last Saturday, where he attended
UFC
324 alongside Alex
Pereira.
During a visit to the
UFC Performance Institue, Teixeira met ex-lightweight champ
Khabib
Nurmagomedov. A video that went viral on social media and left
many fans curious shows the two former champions doing a grappling
training session. But according to the Brazilian, it wasn’t a
training session.
“Khabib is an idol of the sport. Everyone wants to be like him,
Anderson, Jon Jones,
‘Poatan’ — they are all great idols. When I saw him there at the PI
leading a training session for his students, I took the opportunity
to ask him about a takedown he does by grabbing one leg,” Teixeira
said. “Then he grabbed my arm and said come here and showed me, and
we joked around a bit and he gave me some pointers. Obviously, all
with great respect, because when Khabib speaks, we stop to
listen.”
Texeira didn’t give details of what was discussed between Pereira’s
team and the UFC backstage at the event, but he continues to hope
that his protege will fight Jon Jones at
the White House.
“It’s the fight everyone would like to see, but ‘Poatan’ fights
anyone,” Teixeira said. “If it’s [Ciryl] Gane for the interim belt,
it would be his third belt, something no one has achieved to date.
Let’s see what the UFC decides.”
Among the possibilities on the table, Teixeira seems to consider
Khamzat
Chimaev the fight with the least chance of happening.
“He just became middleweight champion and didn’t even defend it.
‘Poatan’ is on a different level,” Pereira said. “It’s complicated
for me to say, but Poatan’s jab is harder than many straight
punches. He has a snap that hurts. And it’s very difficult to take
him down against the cage, and if you manage to, his ground defense
is excellent. ‘Poatan would knock Chimaev out, at most, by the
third round.”
