The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s first pay-per-view of 2023 will mark its long-awaited return to Brazil and should offer some expected entertainment this Saturday at Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro. Up until about a month ago, UFC 283 looked like a solid card that needed one more major fight to put it over the top, and that did in fact wind up dropping in the promotion’s lap. The fates conspired to put together the light heavyweight title fight between Glover Teixeira and Jamahal Hill that tops the bill, and with that, everything else clicks into place. The fourth flyweight championship fight between Deiveson Figueiredo and Brandon Moreno should be an excellent bit of support; Brazilians Gilbert Burns and Jessica Andrade get potential showcase fights; and the light heavyweight opener between Paul Craig and Johnny Walker should just be plain weird.
UFC Light Heavyweight Championship
#2 LHW | Glover Teixeira (33-8, 16-6 UFC) vs. #7 LHW | Jamahal Hill (11-1, 5-1 UFC)ODDS: Hill (-125), Teixeira (+105)
Things somehow worked out for Teixeira. It is still a bit shocking that Teixeira remains relevant at a championship level over a decade after his UFC debut. Stuck in Brazil for years due to visa issues, the narrative was that Teixeira had a short window for glory until he aged out of his prime. Teixeira did in fact march up the ladder in short order, earning a 2014 title shot against Jon Jones within two years of that debut, and he has obviously slowed down in the years since. Yet, at 43 years old, Teixeira just keeps winning. Light heavyweight has increasingly become an athlete’s division during Teixeira’s time on the UFC roster, but few of those athletes have developed enough skill to hang with the Brazilian on the mat. Teixeira still has one of the best wrestling games in the division, which has allowed him to take down opponent after opponent and lay on the pain. Getting there is almost always an adventure, as Teixeira is slow enough to often nearly get knocked out, but once again, the end result is usually him lurching for takedowns and getting his type of fight before his opponent can find a finish. A 2021 win over Jan Blachowicz made Teixeira the oldest first-time champion in UFC history, and while it was not a surprise he lost the title to Jiri Prochazka, the ensuing fight was still a testament to his durability and skill. The two combined for a five-round war with as many near-finishes and momentum swings as you will ever see in a single fight, with Prochazka somehow clamping on a fight-ending submission in the final moments of the fifth round. There was enough momentum to book an immediate rematch for December, but a Prochazka shoulder injury seemingly left Teixeira out of the title picture. The UFC tabbed Magomed Ankalaev as Prochazka’s replacement and Teixeira asked for more time to prepare, so the UFC cast him aside to make the pre-existing Ankalaev-Blachowicz pairing for the vacant strap. However, rather than be forced to wait out months more of his career, Teixeira instead got the January title fight he desired in the most roundabout way possible. Blachowicz and Ankalaev fought to a draw that displeased UFC President Dana White for no apparent reason, enough so that the promotion apparently booked an entirely new fight before the two had even left the cage: Teixeira against a surprising choice and rising prospect in Hill.
A 2019 alum of Dana White’s Contender Series, Hill came to the UFC firmly in the raw-but-promising mold. A lanky striker, “Sweet Dreams” was prone to some slow starts but built momentum throughout his fights to hit a groove as a potent force by the later rounds. His UFC debut against Darko Stosic fit that mold, but Hill proved to be much more ready from the jump in his next few outings, scoring quick knockouts against Klidson Abreu and Ovince St. Preux. Hill’s next fight was a quick and gnarly technical knockout loss to Paul Craig, but he rebounded in impressive fashion with the two best wins of his career: first-round knockouts of Jimmy Crute and Johnny Walker. However, Hill’s last bout, an August main event win against Thiago Santos, was a mixed bag that raised some questions about just how much he has evolved, as his weaknesses looked much the same as in 2019. Defense is not much of a concern for Hill, and that is particularly obvious in regards to his wrestling. Santos is not anyone’s idea of a wrestler and did not do much with the success he found, but he managed to eat up a bunch of time pursuing takedowns and getting Hill to the mat multiple times until the Chicago native scored a late finish. Admittedly, the makeup of the light heavyweight division at the moment means that wrestling should not be a factor in a lot of Hill’s fights, but it sure looks like a glaring weakness for the few that can take advantage of it, like Craig and Teixeira. This is a fight that should go one of two ways and get there rather quickly: Either Hill knocks Teixeira out in short order, or Teixeira turns this into a mauling on the ground. The 43 years of age might finally be a bridge too far for Teixeira to remain effective, but he has been able to avoid getting sparked thus far against hitters at Hill’s level. On the other side of the equation, Hill has yet to prove he can survive a test like Teixeira. The pick is Teixeira via first-round submission.
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Teixeira vs. Hill
Figueiredo vs. Moreno
Burns vs. Magny
Andrade vs. Murphy
Walker vs. Craig
The Prelims