Glover Teixeira Headed For MRI On Injured Shoulder This Wednesday

Light heavyweight title challenger Glover Teixeira saw his impressive 20-fight win streak go up in smoke at last Saturday night’s (April 26, 2014) UFC 172 main event from the Baltimore Arena in Baltimore, Maryland.

Thoroughly outclassed by the range and technique of champion Jon “Bones” Jones, Teixeira was battered with a rapid succession of elbows, jabs, hooks, and various kicks for the better part of five rounds.

His normally thunderous punching power appeared to be human for once, and while Teixeira’s team isn’t making any excuses, part of that may have been due to injury. John Hackleman, Teixeira’s famous trainer at The Pit, confirmed that Jones cranked Teixeira’s shoulder during a first round clinch. He described the situation to MMA Fighting:

“I’ve never seen Glover lose a fight like this. I’ve never seen Glover bleeding. I’ve never seen Glover hurt so bad. Glover hurt his right shoulder really bad the first round. The first round! That’s not an excuse, because Jon Jones hurt his shoulder.

Jon Jones hurt Glover’s shoulder in the tie up on the clinch against the cage, tweaked his shoulder and he hurt it. So Glover couldn’t use his right hand very well. You see me in the corner trying to get him to throw that right hand harder. He told me, ‘Hey, can you get some ice on it?'”

It’s hard to say just how much the shoulder injury affected Teixeira’s performance at UFC 172, because the champ was obviously on point with his diverse mix of Muay Thai strikes. Regardless, Teixeira will seek an MRI for his injured shoulder later this week, but from Hackleman’s initial description, the news isn’t looking good:

“Sometimes he has shoulder problems, but it’s just from training them too much. [During the fight] he never said he had an actual torn ligament or torn tendon so we found that out after. It was obvious. It was actually disfigured and swollen. You could tell something was seriously wrong with it. He’s going to have an MRI Wednesday.”

The power slugging Teixeira also thought he had a broken rib following the fight, but ended up with a broken nose and a sizeable laceration instead.

Much had been made about Teixeira’s level of competition (or lack thereof) heading into his fight with Jones, so we truly saw just how big of a gap there is between mid-level contenders and “Bones.”

Teixeira is still near the top of the suddenly expanding light heavyweight heap, but with top-flight contenders and bouts on the horizon, he may get left behind if he’s on the shelf for an extended amount of time. Here’s to hoping that Teixeira recovers fast and is back in the cage sooner than later.

Photo: Tommy Gilligan for USA TODAY Sports