DANBURY — The champion city, Danbury, is home to two UFC champs, former light heavyweight champion Glover Teixeira and current light heavyweight champion Alex “Poatan” Pereira.
Teixeira has been a Danbury resident since 1999 and owns an MMA gym named Teixeira MMA & Fitness. Teixeira took Pereira under his wing in 2007 when he walked in his gym. Now, Teixeira has retired from the UFC after becoming known as one of the best grapplers in his division, and Pereira is already known as one of the best strikers in UFC history.
Sophomore Elliot Shugrue has been training MMA for around two years. He finds it fascinating that a championship-level gym is nearby and would love to train there.
“Being so close to the gym, I would love to train there,” Shugrue said. “These guys are world-class fighters. I bet anyone can learn so much from them.”
Danbury Police Officer and well-known resident John Krupinsky gave Teixeira his first job.
“You can’t find a more polite, respectful person than Glover,” Krupinsky said. ¨When Glover first came to America, my wife, who is also from Brazil, met him and he used to do security for her when she brought in large national acts.”
Teixeira won the title via submission in the second round of UFC 267 in 2021 against Jan Blachowicz to become the oldest first-time UFC champion at the age of 42. He also holds the record for most submissions in the light heavyweight division with seven.
“When Glover won his world title, I called Mayor [Dean] Esposito. We picked [Teixeira] up in a police car and gave him a hero’s welcome, lights and sirens back to Danbury,” Krupinsky noted. “The following Sunday, the mayor held a parade for him down Main Street into Rogers Park, where he met and spoke with hundreds of people.¨
Sophomore Maddox Poythress shares his love for the UFC’s biggest star.
¨I really like Pereira; he’s a great kickboxer,¨ Poythress said. ¨He’s fun to watch. The [Pereira vs. Khalil] Rountree fight was my favorite when he knocked him out.¨
Poatan also won UFC’s 2024 Fighter of the Year award with three title defense wins at UFC 300, 303 and 307.
Junior Nesim Iljazi got the opportunity to meet Pereira at the Danbury Mall.
“Pereira is my favorite fighter,” Iljazi said. “Meeting him at the mall was one of my best memories. He was relatively quiet and didn’t talk much partly due to the language barrier. I remember when he knocked out Israel Adesanya to win the belt at UFC 281.”
Pereira won his first of two belts against Adesanya at UFC 281, soon winning his second belt a year later at UFC 295 beating Jiri Prochazka by way of knockout in the second round.
Periera recently announced his next fight against Magomed Ankalaev as the main event at UFC 313, scheduled for March 8, for the light heavyweight title. Poatan looks at adding another title defense to his resume tying himself for the third-most title defenses in UFC light heavyweight history with four.
