Glover Teixeira may be the UFC’s current light-heavyweight champion, but it seems that the 42-year-old now has his sights set on retiring by the end of this year.
Teixeira, who is scheduled to fight Jiri Prochazka at UFC 275 in June, revealed on a podcast this week that if he emerges victorious then he aims to have a retirement fight before 2022 draws to a close.
“The perfect plan would be winning this fight, which I have full focus on,” Teixeira said on the Mundo da Luta podcast. “And fighting one last time in November, in New York, which is close to the city I live for 20 years, and close to my gym. It would be my farewell from fighting. That’s what I’m thinking right now.”
Teixiera has enjoyed a dream run during the twilight years of his career, going on a six-fight winning streak that culminated in a second round submission win over Jan Blachowicz to win the light-heavyweight title at UFC 267 last year.
And though nothing is set in stone at this stage, Teixeira says that if he does hang up his gloves then he wants to do it for good and not be lured back out of retirement at a later stage.
“I’ll be 43 in November. Regardless of being at the top, being the best of the world or not, I wanna stop this year. It will probably be my last year. I don’t wanna make this decision after a fight, but it’s what I’ve been thinking for a while. I don’t wanna retire like [Henry] Cejudo, who keeps asking for a fight all the time. I want to retire and stay cool.
“I think that’s the perfect plan. The perfect plan is to retire with the belt this year, but we have a lot to do. We have to see if it could be in New York, and I still have to beat a guy that is tough as hell. That’s my idea.”
