After defeating Thiago Santos in the third round via submission at UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Glover Teixeira has put his name in line for a possible title shot against the light heavyweight champion, Yan Blachowicz.

“Hard work and discipline all the time. If you want to be a champion, live like one, and don’t slack.” Said Glover Teixeira

“I’ve been there and done that. I’ve been in that situation before. I’ve been in that situation in training. It is what it is, man. I got hit with a couple shots, but I was able to recover. It’s all about composure and seeing the situation.

“I felt him getting weak and tired at the end of the second round. I thought I had him, but I got discouraged. Even though I squeezed the heck out of his neck, I got discouraged because I heard the 10-second clap. But I knew he was getting tired.

“I feel great. I’m so happy. I have a great team behind me, great people and great family. It’s amazing. I love it.

“I’m going to go home now and eat an extra-large pizza. We’ll talk about fighting later. I think I’m a title contender. We’ll see what happens.”

Other fight results and quotes

Andrei Arlovski defeated Tanner Boser via unanimous decision

Andrei Arlovski said:

“Pretty much, it was as we planned during the training camp.

“My coaches studied him and I knew that if he’s moving a lot, he’s about to attack. I knew he was going to have hard low kicks and an overhand right.

“I looked at Boser and saw myself 21 years ago. He’s young, powerful, strong and hungry. I wish him good luck.

“Obviously, I want to fight tomorrow for the title, but there are other heavyweights in the line. It’s up to Dana White and the matchmakers.

“I love what I do. I love fighting. I love training hard. I have a great team.”

Raoni Barcelos defeated Khalid Taha via unanimous decision

Raoni Barcelos said:

“I was prepared. You guys saw in this fight that I did very well. Here I am, I just got a win.

“At the end of the second round, I hurt him with my hands. I thought I was going to get the knockout, but he survived. I think this was the best outcome because it was a good fight for everybody.

“My mind is very good at this point. There are a lot of tough fighters that train with me. He was a very tough fighter. I tried to get the knockout or finish the fight. I was trying to do that the whole fight.

“Today I proved to myself that I can go beyond whatever I believe. It was hard, but I think I did a good job.”

Giga Chikadze defeated Jamey Simmons via first-round TKO

Giga Chikadze said:

“I was so excited and prepared for this moment. I’m just very happy to celebrate this.

“It’s kind of my signature—people call this the Giga kick. I set it up a couple of times to the body and then I went in high.

“I’m just enjoying it. Before I was a kickboxer and still dreaming about this kind of moment. I wanted world MMA fans to watch my talent and skillset. Finally, I’m there and enjoying each moment. I feel blessed because there are so many good fighter who aren’t getting these opportunities. I feel blessed and really happy to be here.”

Yan Xiaonan defeated Claudia Gadelha via unanimous decision

Yan Xiaonan said:

“This time I was more conservative and followed everything the coaches told me. This was a different fight.

“Even though I got taken down twice in the first round, I never gave up. I said, ‘I have to win this fight.’ So I did it.

“For this fight, I never gave up. Everybody saw that. Everyone can see my progress.

“I’m going to go home, eat a good meal and take a rest.”