The UFC light heavyweight division ought to at last get some clearness at UFC 283 on Saturday when the advancement gets back to Brazil with a card featured by Glover Teixeira battling Jamahal Slope for the 205-pound title.
The division has been in somewhat of a spiral since toward the end of last year. That is when Jiří Procházka cleared his title and the UFC selected Magomed Ankalaev and Jan Błachowicz as the substitution matchup to name another boss at UFC 282.
That choice misfired a piece when the two battled to a split draw. Neither contender truly did what’s necessary to vehemently be proclaimed a boss, so the UFC selected to seek after another matchup completely, offering Teixeira and Slope the chance to win the belt on Saturday night.
The flyweight belt will likewise be on the line at the Jeunesse Field in Rio de Janeiro this end of the week. Deiveson Figueiredo and Brandon Moreno will meet for the fourth time in a competition that has conveyed each time the two men have been in the enclosure.
Here is a glance at the total card with early chances and the most recent buzz as we head toward the weigh-ins.
Its an obvious fact that the matchup between Jamahal Slope and Glover Teixeira is a matchup of the new flood of light heavyweights and the privileged few.
At the point when Glover Teixeira got his most memorable break at UFC gold in 2014, Slope was as yet three years out from making his MMA debut. He wouldn’t battle in that frame of mind for six additional years.
In this way, doubtlessly Teixeira has the experience advantage. However, Slope accepts that basically implies winning this battle matters more to him.
“I (saw) some fire in his eyes. I (saw) that he’s simply prepared. You can advise he’s been here previously and he’s all set through it, however I simply didn’t see the very fire that I’m accompanying,” the 31-year-old told journalists.
Slope has set the division on notice with three on the right track knockout successes. In the wake of experiencing the sole loss of his vocation against Paul Craig in June 2021, he has scored first-round completions of Jimmy Crute and Johnny Walker before a fourth-round technical knockout of Thiago Santos in August 2022.
However, santos made progress against Slope in the third round of their battle. He had the option to bring him down multiple times and held control for 3:50 of the round, per UFC Details.
That could give Teixeira, 43, with a guide to beating his more youthful rival. Santos is principally a striker and was as yet ready to get Slope to the mat and control him.
However long Teixeira can proceed with his momentous run of battling great notwithstanding his age, he could undoubtedly follow a comparable way and beat up Slope on the ground.