sport news How Glover Teixeira blossomed into prime aged 42 ahead of UFC 275 title defence ... trends now
You would think that the cutthroat world of the UFC is a young man's game but Glover Teixeira lobbed convention out the window last year.
The Brazilian became the second oldest champion in UFC history at the age of 42, fulfilling a lifelong dream and delivering one of the feel-good stories of 2021.
His dethroning of Jan Blachowicz capped an unlikely renaissance but is not the end of the fairytale. He makes his first title defence in Singapore this Saturday against Jiri Prochazka.
Glover Teixeira is the oldest current UFC champion having won the belt aged 42 last year
The light-heavyweight has done it the hard way but his story is a remarkable one
With the clock ticking on Teixeira's career, he will enter every fight as the underdog despite being in possession of the belt.
His challenger is heavily favoured by the bookmakers but it would be foolish to write off the veteran in the midst of his remarkable Indian summer.
So how did he manage, like a fine wine, to mature so wonderfully late in his career?
Work ethic was never a problem but every time he was on the cusp of a title shot, big defeats against the likes of Alexander Gustafsson and Anthony Johnson set him back.
Prior to his victory over Blachowicz, Teixeira explained how his approach had changed and was reaping rewards.
He told CBS: 'I've been more disciplined about it and more focused on what I have to do to become a champion. Of course, I did the work before - I trained like a maniac, like a dog, always - but I was doing something wrong.
'I said, "I am losing time over here, what do I have to do?" I was looking for more knowledge from the [UFC Performance Institute] and my coaches and my discipline. It was like, "How much do I want this?"'
There was also a realisation that killing himself in the gym was unhelpful at this stage along with an insistence that an old dog can in fact learn new tricks.
He went on: 'I had to humble myself and start learning new things and start improving what I know best. My boxing got better and my jiu-jitsu got better because of the drilling and pushing.'
Anthony Smith suffered a broken nose, fractured eye socket and lost teeth against Teixeira
'My boxing has just gotten better. There is more caution about it and training smarter is a big key.
'I'm drilling a lot where before, I
