Alexander Rakic Challenges Glover Teixeira, Offers a Fight at UFC Vegas 13

Aleksander Rakic, No.4 in the UFC light heavyweight rankings, challenged Glover Teixeira to a bout in March this year. Apparently, Rakic wants this one to be a title-eliminator, which would decide who will face the reigning division champion, Jan Blachowicz.

Following Teixeira’s win over Thiago Santos, Rakic offered the 41-year old a fight at the UFC Vegas 13 in March, saying that he should accept a clash with him instead of waiting.

“Hey @gloverteixeira, you did a great job against a striker. If you want to wait for the next 10 months for your shot, go ahead, old man, and wait. If you want to retire as a legend with a hard fight against me – call @Mickmaynard2 and see me in March,” Rakic wrote on his Twitter account.

Hey @gloverteixeira you did a great job against a striker.If you want to wait for the next 10 months for your shot, go ahead old man and wait. If you want to retire as a legend with a hard fight against me – call @Mickmaynard2 and see me in March. 🚀 #ufcvegas13 @ufc @danawhite

— Aleksandar Rakic (@rakic_ufc) November 8, 2020

Rakic is one of the biggest prospects in the division right now, and with 28 years of age, many believe that he has a bright future, which includes winning the belt some day. His rise in the UFC became notable over the past two years, and as time went by, Rakic was getting harder and harder challenges, but almost always, he came out as the winner.

His latest victory came against the former challenger, Anthony Smith, with Rakic winning that bout via unanimous decision. This success earned him a place among the top five fighters in the division, and he wants to have the ultimate test before calling out the champion.

Teixeira would be that test, with the Brazilian posting five wins in a row, two against former title challengers. Many consider him to be the no.1 on the UFC list of light heavyweight contenders, especially after beating Santos this Saturday.

He already called out Dana White, asking for another chance to fight for the belt, saying that he won’t have too much time left due to his age.

“Dana White, man,” Teixeira said, referring to the UFC president, in his postfight interview. “Come on, man. I’m an old man. I’m here. You’ve gotta give me a shot. … It’s not easy. Give me that title shot, man. Either way, I’m so happy to be here.”

Glover’s problem is that UFC reportedly tries to book a fight between the middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and Blachowicz. That would be one of the most profitable spectacles ever, and the organization will give the advantage to that event over Teixeira’s title shot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QS6rzQCulA8

That is what Rakic counts on. His and Teixeira’s fight would then be either a title eliminator or for the interim champion, which is also a highly possible situation.

Rakic would lose to Volkan Oezdemir in December last year, via split decision, and that was his first defeat since coming to the UFC. This outcome was highly questionable, because many suggested that Rakic won the match, and that the judges made a massive mistake awarding the win to his rival. Before that one, he went on to beat Jimi Manuwa, Devin Clark, Justin Ledet, and Francimar Barroso.

As we said already, Teixeira is on a five-match winning streak, during which he defeated Anthony Smith, Nikita Krylov, Ion Cutelaba, and Karl Roberson. He already had a shot at the belt, back in 2014 once Jon Jones defeated him via unanimous decision. Following that period, Glover posted mixed results, not being able to produce consistency. At some point, it seemed that he might fall out from the top 10 places in the division, but that didn’t happen. Instead, he is one of the few guys waiting in line to attack the champion.