Getty Jiri Prochazka & Glover Teixeira
Top-ranked light heavyweight Anthony Smith isn’t impressed with the fight IQ that was displayed by Jiri Prochazka and Glover Teixeira during the UFC 275 championship headliner.
The 205-pound belt was up for grabs when Teixeira entered the Octagon in Singapore this weekend for his first title defense. The two went to war for nearly five rounds, with both men giving and receiving plenty of punishment.
But, in the end, Prochazka caught the Brazilian with a rear-naked choke seconds before the end of the fifth frame. Teixeira tapped out and “Denisa” is now the UFC light heavyweight king.
Smith, who is ranked No. 5 as per the official UFC standings, recently spoke with Ariel Helwani on “The MMA Hour” about the title tilt. In short, Smith thinks it was a bad night at the office for both combatants.
“To be honest, I think both of those guys had the worst performances of their life at the same time,” Smith said via MMA Fighting. “I really do. For the first time, Glover looked a little old. For the first time in a while, because that’s not the Glover I got. That’s not the one Thiago Santos got. I don’t know who that guy was, but fortunately for him, I think Prochazka had one of the worst performances he could have possibly had too.
“They just made terrible decisions. Like the fight IQ, if you would have put it together, it wouldn’t have been in the double digits during the fight. They both just didn’t fight smart at all.”
Smith Compared the Teixeira He Fought to the One Who Showed Up to Compete Against Prochazka
Smith doesn’t think Prochazka was locked in the cage with the same Teixeira he fought in May 2020. Teixeira brutally beatdown Smith via ground and ground, winning the fight in the fifth round via TKO.
“Glover was mounted several times,” Smith continued. “He had [Prochazka’s] back several times, he had him deep in submissions a couple times. He lost position. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen Glover lose positions like that before. I know the deficit between those two guys in the grappling department is huge.
“I’m a high-level [Brazilian jiu-jitsu] black belt and I’ve submitted several world champions. I grapple at a very f****** high level and I was stuck like f****** Chuck [with Teixeira]. I don’t know what happened, where the Glover was that had me stuck on my back. Where was that guy? Because that’s not the same guy that fought on Saturday night.”
Smith Theorizes That Teixeira’s Age Could Have Lent to His UFC 275 Title-Losing Performance
Teixeira is 42 years old, and Smith thinks that age might be finally catching up to the former champion. Speaking about why Teixeira turned in the performance he did against Prochazka, Smith said it was the “oddest thing” that the Brazilian’s defensive fundamentals were lacking.
“I think it could be a culmination of a few things,” Smith said about Teixeira. “It may be could be his age. He didn’t fight like an old man, though. If you really go back and watch it, it was one-way traffic when those guys got to their spots. We all said, ‘If Jiri’s striking and he’s doing what he wants to do, he’s finishing Glover.’ Then we said, ‘If Glover gets him on the ground, he’s probably going to finish him.’ Both guys got to both of their spots several times and it was like a runaway train, they were just beating the s*** out of each other, but for some reason, they just couldn’t cap it off and get that finish.
“Defensively, Glover has been very good in his last three or four fights. He has been clipped a little bit. I think maybe his reaction time has slipped just a tiny bit but he’s rolling with the punches, he’s not taking anything clean. And then he fights Prochazka and he couldn’t get out of the way. It was just the oddest thing.”