Watch: Jan Blachowicz and fans sing 'happy birthday' to Glover Teixeira at the UFC 267 press conference
Ahead of their blockbuster showdown at UFC 267 this weekend, Jan Blachowicz and Glover Teixeira shared a hearty moment during the official press conference on Thursday.
Blachowicz joined fans and MMA journalists in attendance at the Etihad Arena in singing 'happy birthday' to his rival Teixeira, who has just turned 42. The UFC light heavyweight champion will be defending his gold against the Brazilian in Saturday's main event.
Watch Jan Blachowicz, reporters and fans sing 'happy birthday' to Glover Teixeira below:
Jan and the crowd singing Happy Birthday to Glover π
[ #UFC267 | Saturday | ππ§ππ‘ππ’π¨ 10:30ππ’ππ | ππππ£ πΎππ§π 2π₯π’ππ | LIVE on ESPN+ | @VisitAbuDhabi | @InAbuDhabi | #InAbuDhabi ] https://t.co/DrflLAhclq
Blachowicz currently holds a 28-8 record in his professional MMA career, while Teixeira is 32-7. Both 205-pound stars are on five-fight winning streaks right now.
UFC 267 will also feature an interim bantamweight championship clash between contenders Petr Yan and Cory Sandhagen as the co-main event. The likes of Islam Makhachev, Dan Hooker, Khamzat Chimaev and Alexander Volkov will also be in action in Abu Dhabi as well.
This will be Glover Teixeira's second UFC light heavyweight title shot
Glover Teixeira last fought for the UFC light heavyweight championship way back in April 2014 at UFC 172. He took on titleholder Jon Jones in the pay-per-view headliner.
'Bones' won the bout via unanimous decision. It has taken Teixeira more than seven years to secure another title shot.
The No.1-ranked contender has never been submitted in his career and has gone to the judges' scorecards just nine times in his 39 professional fights.
When Glover Teixeira enters the cage at #UFC267 for his title fight against Jan Blachowicz it'll have been 2,774 days since his previous title fight against Jon Jones in 2014.
What a story. π§π·
Meanwhile, Jan Blachowicz claimed the light heavyweight belt at UFC 253 last September. He defeated Dominick Reyes to win the title, which was vacated by Jones earlier in the year.
Blachowicz has made one successful title defense so far. It came against UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, who had moved up a weight class in an attempt to become a two-division titleholder.
The 38-year-old Warsaw resident came out on top against 'The Last Stylebender' via unanimous decision at UFC 259 in March this year. He'll be looking to record his second successful defense at UFC 267 on Saturday.