Stephen Thompson says he was inspired by Glover Teixeira winning the UFC light heavyweight title at age 42 and after many ups and downs.
In the main event of UFC 267, Teixeira was fighting for UFC gold for the second and possibly last time in his career as he took on Jan Blachowicz. In the lead-up to the fight, Blachowicz was a sizeable underdog and many counted him out. However, the Brazilian surprised many and pulled off the upset with a second-round submission to win the belt. For Thompson, he says seeing the ‘old man’ get the win inspired him.
“That was super inspiring. It’s super inspiring, man. I mean, I’ll be 39 next year, February, so I’m catching up slowly but surely. But to see somebody like that definitely gives you some inspiration,” Thompson said to MMANews’ James Lynch. “Because at that point, he shouldn’t be fighting. Everybody would be telling him to leave. The sport has changed, and I like where it’s going. People train smarter, being smart with their training, spending more time with their recovery. I’m not really sure how he does it, but I feel like he takes care of himself, for sure.”
Of course, Stephen Thompson is 38-years-old and lost his last fight to Gilbert Burns at UFC 264 which many thought he would never fight for UFC gold again. However, as Teixeira proved on Saturday anything can happen, and “Wonderboy” is hoping to follow in the Brazilian’s footsteps.
Thompson, of course, fought for the UFC’s welterweight title in back-to-back fights against Tyron Woodley where he fought to a draw and lost a majority decision. Both fights could’ve gone his way but it didn’t. If he is going to win a UFC title, he will need to do it in his next fight, which he says will happen on December 18 against an opponent TBD.
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