SINGAPORE – Glover Teixeira won’t be pressured into a retirement decision heading into UFC 275.
Teixeira (33-7 MMA, 16-5 UFC) defends his light heavyweight title against Jiri Prochazka (28-3-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) in Saturday’s main event, which takes place at Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN2 and ESPN+.
The 42-year-old champion mentioned in the lead-up to this fight the possibility he retires by the end of 2022 and while he doesn’t necessarily regret saying it, he won’t specify exactly when he plans on walking away.
“I said it was a possibility. I never really said I’m going to retire,” Teixeira told MMA Junkie and other reporters at a UFC 275 pre-fight news conference. “It’s not regretting because I never said for sure and it doesn’t matter. What you want now could change.
“Who knows? After this fight or after the next fight, who knows how long I’m going to fight (or) if I’m going to be fighting until 45 years old like Randy Couture? I’m feeling great. I’m feeling good. I don’t have any major injury, because we all do a little bit, after 20 years in the game, but I don’t know. I’m just living in the moment. Let tomorrow take care of itself.”
Teixeira then explained when he eventually hangs up his gloves, he doesn’t want to have any second thoughts about fighting again.
“I don’t want to be like Cejudo, that he retired and then wants to fight everybody else now,” Teixeira said. “I’m not talking sh*t about him. I can see he wanted to fight. He didn’t want to retire, and me, I tell my wife I’m always going to make this decision at home. No matter what happens in the fight, win or lose, I’m probably never gonna make that decision in the octagon.
“I’m gonna go home and the day that I don’t feel like I want to train and I want to do this camp and I want to keep going or – because you can feel it. In the training room, you can feel like, ‘Oh man, I’m not like I used to be anymore’ and that could be it, but for now I’m feeling like a champ.”
Glover Teixeira not worrying about retirement ahead of UFC 275: ‘I’m just living in the moment’
