UFC Light Heavyweight star Glover Teixeira caps off a great personal year by becoming an American citizen
Glover Teixeira is having a great time inside the octagon, and it seems like the good luck has accompanied him outside of the cage as well.
Glover Teixeira revealed in an Instagram post recently that he has been granted full American citizenship. He said in the message that he was proud to represent both the United States of America as well as his home country, Brazil.
Glover Teixeira came to the US as an immigrant
Glover Teixeira was born and brought up in Sobralia of Minas Gerais state in Brazil. He moved to the United States in 1999 and stayed in Danbury, Connecticut. His first job was in the landscaping industry.
Watching boxing matches with his wife, Ingrid, made him fall in love with combat sports, and the rest is history.
However, his journey to the top was not a smooth ride. Immigration issues kept him away from his UFC dreams and from his wife as well. Teixeira could not come back to USA for nearly four years. He was just about to sign with UFC when this happened, and it is safe to assume Teixeira lost some precious years processing paperwork when he could have achieved several accomplishments.
In 2014, Glover Teixeira gave an interview to Boston Herald, where he talked about this incident. He also said that he was going to be a citizen by 2015. But that would take five more years from then.
"When I come to the United States, I came here illegally. I didn’t know I was going to be a fighter. I just thought I was going to work landscaping for, I don’t know, three, four years, then go back to Brazil and live my life. But back then, I didn’t want to go through papers, like, I don’t need the papers right now, the Green Card. But after 2001, on Sept. 11, they had all the laws change, so I had to go to Brazil to fix my situation. That’s why I ended up waiting so long over there, because I was illegal here for so long."
"I have a Green Card, I’m going to be a citizen now, documentation’s already done. I should be a citizen by 2015."
However, Glover Teixeira's will prevailed.
Glover Teixeira in the UFC
At 40, Glover Teixeira has been fighting for nearly two decades now. He is 32-7 in his professional career, which includes wins over the likes of Jared Cannonier and Pat Cummins.
With his win over Thiago 'Marreta' Santos this month, Teixeira became the first person aged 40 or older to have a five-win streak in the UFC.
He finished Karl Roberson with an arm-triangle submission, Ion Cutelaba with a rear-naked submission, defeated Nikita Krylov via split decision, and stopped Anthony Smith with punches before heading into the Thiago Santos bout.
Glover Teixeira then defeated a returning 'Marreta' with a rear-naked choke.
He is likely in line for a title fight next, unless Light Heavyweight Champion Jan Blachowicz faces Israel Adesanya first, which is a super-fight in making.
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