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Call it old-man strength, call it veteran poise, call it a little of both.
Either way, six years removed from a UFC light heavyweight title shot, 40-year-old [autotag]Glover Teixeira[/autotag] is still among the top names at 205 pounds, a point he hammered home with a masterful performance Wednesday night.
The Danbury, Conn., resident by way of Brazil weathered an early attack, then roared back to pummel fellow former title challenger [autotag]Anthony Smith[/autotag] in the main event of UFC on ESPN+ 29 on Wednesday night. Teixeira (31-7 MMA, 14-5 UFC) earned the TKO stoppage at the 1:04 mark of the fifth round to earn his fourth consecutive victory.
“It’s not how hard you hit, it’s how hard you get hit and keep coming forward,” Teixeira said in his post-fight interview.
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Smith (33-15 MMA, 8-5 UFC) looked sharp in the opening round, effectively using his length to fire front kicks and follow up with with sharp combos.
This continued into the second round, right up until Smith fired right, which immediately caused Teixeira’s left eye to swell. But this seemed to light a fire under Teixeira, who immediately picked up the pace. Teixeira started firing heavy hands and Smith noticeably slowed as the round wore on.
The third and fourth rounds were bad news for Smith. Teixeira used a mix of punishing standup, firing and connecting with overhand after overhand, and continuing the punishment as the fight hit the ground, in what certainly appeared to be a pair of 10-8 rounds.
Smith looked done toward the end of the fourth, but referee Jason Herzog didn’t wave things off, and his corner sent him back out for the fifth despite Smith telling them his teeth were falling out. Smith took just over a minute’s worth of further damage before the bout was finally waved off.
The victory was Teixeira’s 26th by way of stoppage in his career, while Smith’s 13th stoppage loss marked his second loss in his past three fights.
The light heavyweight bout was the UFC on ESPN+ 29 main event at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla. It streamed on ESPN+.
Up-to-the-minute UFC on ESPN+ 29 results include:
- Glover Teixeira def. Anthony Smith via TKO (punches) — Round 5, 1:04
- Ben Rothwell def. Ovince Saint via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
- Drew Dober def. Alexander Hernandez via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 4:25
- Ricky Simon def. Ray Borg via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
- Andrei Arlovski def. Phillipe Lins via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Thiago Moises def. Michael Johnson via submission (heel hook) – Round 2, 0:25
- Sijara Eubanks def. Sarah Moras via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)
- Omar Morales def. Gabriel Benitez via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
- Brian Kelleher def. Hunter Azure via knockout (punches) – Round 2, 3:42
- Chase Sherman def. Ike Villanueva via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 0:49
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