Glover Teixeira made history in the UFC as the oldest male first-time champion when he beat Jan Blachowicz for the light heavyweight belt in 2021, and his nephew Ryan Teixeira dreams to live up to his name
and one day get to build his own legacy in the octagon.
Ryan grew up watching Glover beat people up in MMA, a celebrity in their hometown Sobralia, and didn’t take long to fall in love for martial arts and choose to follow the same path.
The 25-year-old will make his LFA debut Friday in Mashantucket, a 90-minute drive from Teixeira’s gym in Danbury, facing off with Efraim Ko in an amateur lightweight bout. If victorious at LFA 222, he will likely turn pro in 2026.
“[Glover] always encouraged me ever since I was a kid,” Ryan told MMA Fighting. “He’d go to Sobralia [Brazil] and hold pads for me, run some training sessions, physical conditioning and all that. That’s how you start to get the taste for it [laughs].”
“I actually liked going to school, studying and all that, but I realized that wasn’t what truly made me happy,” he continued. “When I started training jiu-jitsu more seriously, I got really into it and it gave me such a good feeling. The feeling of improving with every session, every competition I joined, every new experience. I said, ‘Man, this is what I want for my life.’ It all started with Glover, and I want to make a living out of sports.”
Ryan made his amateur MMA debut a few months after his uncle became UFC champion, but fractured his hand in a split-decision loss in Westbury, NY. When finally healed, he entered the cage in Manchester, NH, and again broke his hand in the first punch thrown before a stoppage loss in the third round.
After nearly a year off, enough time to understand what he was doing wrong, Ryan scored his first MMA victory with a decision in Ledyard, Conn., and picked up a few kickboxing and muay Thai wins before finally returning to MMA on Nov. 14.
“I’m really confident I’ll win this fight,” Ryan said. “After this one, I’m turning pro. I’ll start the war to get to the UFC.”
LFA 222 will feature a few teammates from Danbury, from Regivaldo Carvalho and Melvin Jovel to Alex Pereira’s sister — and Karate Combat champion — Aline Pereira. Ryan feels at his best surrounded by such elite training, especially seeing one of UFC’s top star choosing to stay in Danbury for his camps.
“Man, it’s an incredible experience,” Ryan said. “‘Poatan’ is always there teaching us, and so is Glover. The team’s energy, the confidence they give us about our training, it’s on another level. ‘Poatan’ travels everywhere and he always says it’s hard to find a gym that trains like our team, and hearing that from a world champion gives us even more confidence.”
Ryan predicts he will take Efraim Ko down and submit him at LFA 222, and admits he’s not wasting any time chasing the UFC dream.
“[Plan is] to continue the family legacy,” Ryan said with a laugh. “To keep the name out there and make history. We do get impatient, we get anxious to be there already, but everything happens in God’s time. It’s all about putting in the work, training hard, fighting, and finishing fights quickly. I always go in there looking to finish. Most of my fights went the distance, but if you really watch them, I’m pushing forward the whole time and putting on a show. God willing, we’ll get there soon.”
