Teixeira’s triumph was the more surprising of the two. The
Brazilian veteran entered last Wednesday’s matchup with Anthony
Smith on a three-fight winning streak, he was expected to
succumb to the younger “Lionheart.” Instead, Teixeira has shaken up
the entire light heavyweight division after soundly thumping Smith
en route to a fifth-round technical knockout victory. Just like
that, Teixeira went from being on a nice run to the thick of
contention. As a result of his victory, the former title challenger
rockets up the rankings at 205 pounds from 12th to sixth. Smith,
despite good work in wins over Alexander
Gustafsson and Volkan
Oezdemir, plummets from second to seventh.
Overeem, meanwhile, overcame popular sentiment and an early blitz
to stop Walt Harris
in the second round of their main event clash. Overeem is but mere
seconds from a four-fight winning streak, but three out of four
still ain’t bad. “The Reem” will remain at No. 9 in our heavyweight
poll after vanquishing the 11th-ranked Harris.
Elsewhere, Claudia
Gadelha remains No. 7 at strawweight following a somewhat
fortuitous split-decision win over Angela Hill
in the UFC on ESPN 8 co-main event. Hill, who many thought deserved
to win and had a three-fight winning streak snapped, still
impressed enough in defeat to take over the 15th spot at 115
pounds.
Alistair "The Demolition Man" Overeem
Glover Teixeira