It’s rare to see a title fight featuring over 80 combined years of age, but Jan Blachowicz (38) and Glover Teixeira (42) have earned their spots by besting a string of young, elite talent. And while each has had success as a two-level fighter in the past, in this matchup there will be an underlying striker versus grappler dynamic.
Blachowicz will command advantages in striking pace, accuracy, defense and power. Meanwhile, Teixeira is the older and more damaged of the two. That’s a lot of advantages for the defending champ as long it’s on the feet. But on the ground, few big men have looked as relentless as Teixeira holding down adversaries, transitioning positions and using scrambles to reverse the course of a fight.
While the lean is that Blachowicz will win standing exchanges and should be able to defend early takedowns, a market price hovering in the -300 range is too high and does not credit Teixeira for the threat he poses. Five rounds is a long time for a veteran like Teixeira to find a small opening and leverage it.
At 41, Teixeira has proven yet again that age is just a number.
After his loss to Corey Anderson in 2018, Teixeira has bounced back with a five-fight win streak and rightfully worked his way to a title shot. In order for Teixeira to pull off the upset, he has to get the fight to the floor as early as possible to where he will have the only advantage. However, that will be easier said than done, as Blachowicz has excellent take-down defense and will be better everywhere else.
As we saw in his last fight versus Israel Adesanya, Blachowicz’s striking was precise and carries a ton of power that can end a fight at any moment. Blachowicz is a very accurate striker and puts out a ton of volume over the course of the fight while mixing up his strikes, making him very unpredictable, which will pose problems for Teixeira.
Blachowicz’s power could be too much for Teixeira, and as we have seen before, Blachowicz can go five rounds and carry a very fast pace, something Teixeira will struggle to keep up with.
