Tallison Teixeira does not plan on slowing down after his first UFC defeat. Instead, \u201cXic\u00e3o\u201d sees his UFC 325 clash with Tai Tuivasa, which goes down Jan. 31 in Sydney, as the perfect opportunity to cement his place as a future contender in the heavyweight division.<\/p>\n
Teixeira was only 1-0 in the UFC after walking through Justin Tafa in just 35 seconds in Australia, when the UFC booked him against perennial contender Derrick Lewis in a main event bout. \u201cThe Black Beast\u201d upset the Brazilian with a knockout \u2014 also in 35 seconds.<\/p>\n
The 6-foot-7 Brazilian said he had \u201ca very chaotic camp\u201d for Lewis, dealing with \u201ca lot of personal issues, health stuff,\u201d but it turned out to be a lesson in the end. In fact, the 26-year-old says he has \u201cno regrets at all\u201d accepting such a big opportunity one fight into his UFC career.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened there, for me, was just an accident,\u201d Teixeira said. \u201cI don\u2019t think it would happen again, but huge credit to Derrick for being able to land that shot at my range. Full credit to him, it was his night. I was excited, like I told you, and I\u2019m still excited, I\u2019m still good, because that was just a bad night. It was his night. But now it\u2019s going to be different in Australia, it\u2019s going to be my night. I want to impose my pace, impose my game, always aggressive like I\u2019ve been in my other fights, keep being aggressive, always pushing the pace, speed, volume, and damage.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I win, hell, I\u2019m in the elite, in the conversation maybe for a title shot. But if I lose, at least I had the opportunity to try,\u201d he continued. \u201cI\u2019ll never regret a decision I make because it shapes who I am, it got me here and will take me much further, so I can\u2019t regret it. I take everything as a learning experience and keep moving forward. That night happened, it wasn\u2019t what I expected or planned, but it helped me evolve a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Teixeira changed a few things in his life and career since the July loss, including switching teams in S\u00e3o Paulo. \u201cXic\u00e3o\u201d left Team Lucas Mineiro to join Cornerman, citing the need for bigger training partners, but said he\u2019s forever grateful for ex-coach Lucas Martins for guiding him to the big leagues.<\/p>\n
His first test of 2026 will be against Tuivasa, a heavyweight fan-favorite who saw his UFC record drop to 8-8 after losing his past five in a row. including finishes against Ciryl Gane, Sergei Pavlovich, Alexander Volkov and Marcin Tybura.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was a bit surprised when the organization sent his name,\u2019 Teixeira said. \u201cI even thought he might not accept the fight but thankfully he did, and I\u2019m really excited about this matchup.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you look at someone\u2019s record, an experienced guy like him who has 16 fights in the organization, he\u2019s been through a lot,\u201d he continued. \u201cHe is coming off five losses, but when you stop to think about who he lost to, that\u2019s the real issue. He only lost to the top guys in the division. He lost to Gane, who in my opinion might be the best striker in the division. In fact, his last win was exactly over Derrick Lewis, the biggest knockout artist in the division.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tuivasa is a local Australian who has beaten the likes of Lewis, Greg Hardy, Stefan Struve and Andrei Arlovski in the octagon, and will have the crowd on his side when he enters the Qudos Bank Arena this weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s pressure on him, he has to win because he\u2019s coming off some losses, and there\u2019s that pressure on me too, like, \u2018he\u2019s coming off five losses, so you have to beat him,\u2019\u201d Teixeira said. \u201cBut look at who he lost to, the absolute elite of the division. I even watched some videos of him training with Gane, I saw he\u2019s really committed, and that\u2019s good, because he sees danger in me and knows he needs to be very well prepared for this fight. He\u2019s a very dangerous guy, hits hard, very dangerous, extremely experienced, has been in a lot of wars, but I\u2019m excited and fired up for this fight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both Teixeira and Tuivasa scored the vast majority of their MMA wins by knockout, combining for 20 knockout finishes in 22 matches, and \u201cXic\u00e3o\u201d sees his toolbox being more complete than his opponent\u2019s.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think our striking level is pretty similar,\u201d Teixeira said. \u201cHe just has a bit more mileage, a bit more savvy from having more fights and experience. But I don\u2019t think my striking is behind his. Grappling-wise, yes, there\u2019s a big difference because he\u2019s a pure kickboxer. But like I said, this is MMA. If I have to take him down, I\u2019ll take him down. If I have to trade, I\u2019ll trade. If I have to work him on the fence like I did in my penultimate fight, I\u2019ll put him on the fence. I came to fight MMA. I\u2019m not here like, \u2018I want to knock him out o submit him.\u2019 I want to impose my game and pace. If my hand lands, he\u2019s going down. If I need to take him down to finish him, ground and pound, I\u2019ll do it. The important thing is winning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Teixeira hopes that a win at UFC 325 propels his name back to the top of the heavyweight class and has a target in mind in case the UFC doesn\u2019t once again throws his name straight against one of the five best.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you ask me for a name I\u2019d really like to fight it would be [Marcin] Tybura,\u201d Teixeira said. \u201cI\u2019ve said before that it\u2019s a matchup that makes sense. He\u2019s also ranked above me, I think around eighth or ninth. I need a bit more mileage inside the octagon. Obviously I want to fight the best. I\u2019ve always had that fire inside me to go at the best and show my work, and that\u2019s not going to change now. Getting past Tai, God willing everything will work out and the UFC gives me a top-5 guy or Tybura, who\u2019s ranked around 8 or 9. That\u2019s perfect. The important thing is to take one step at a time toward that title.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tallison Teixeira does not plan on slowing down after his first UFC defeat. Instead, \u201cXic\u00e3o\u201d sees his UFC…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":450276,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,1347,785,85,787,1396],"class_list":["post-450275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-latest-news","tag-mma","tag-sports","tag-ufc","tag-ufc-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=450275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450275\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/450276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=450275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=450275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=450275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}