Jon Jones relinquished his light heavyweight championship earlier this year to move up to the heavyweight division. In his absence, a slew of new contenders have risen to the top. It started with Jan Blachowicz’s title win over Dominick Reyes to capture the title. Now Israel Adesanya is moving up to have his crack at the belt. But sometimes, the past comes back to dominate.

Glover Teixeira extended his divisional win streak by choking Thiago Santos out in the third round of their main event fight. Glover is 41 years old and has finally reclaimed the number one contender’s spot; something he last had in 2014. He faced champion Jon Jones and fell short, but Jones has extended appreciation towards Glover after his age-defying win streak.

Jones simply remarking Glover as the new G.O.A.T. may be more than just pandering. While obviously, he is deeply affected by this conversation considering his past Twitter behaviour, he may genuinely be giving props to Glover. Jones and Glover met at UFC 172, where the champion cruised to a unanimous decision win for his seventh consecutive title defence.

Jon Jones and Glover Teixeira

Their last fight was quite conclusive and gave a verdict that nobody can doubt. Along with that, not even the most avid Jones haters would say Glover is the G.O.A.T. over Jon. It just isn’t a rational discussion. However, if ‘Bones’ is the one giving that status to Glover, it means a lot more.

Glover’s longevity is quite astounding to see from a fighter with as many miles as him. Santos took the fight to Jones in their last encounter, while Glover outsmarted the hard-swinging Brazilian. It is quite the redemption arc for Glover to earn a title shot after almost 7 years of earning it. Jones believes that Glover has earned it as well.

Israel Adesanya’s impending title fight with Jan Blachowicz will hold the division up temporarily. It is hard to say that Izzy deserves this more than Glover, but the marketing dollars will say otherwise.

Adesanya is a dominant champion as well, so he does have credibility in his move up the divisions. However, it would be nice to see Glover get the shot considering all the years he has given to the sport and how he is proving his worth despite being at the tail-end of his career.

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