Glover Teixeira studying Alex Pereira's fight IQ for Shogun bout

Glover Teixeira is picking up striking lessons from Alex Pereira as he prepares for his boxing debut against Mauricio Shogun Rua on Aug. 29 at Spaten Fight Night 3 in Sao Paulo.

The former UFC heavyweight/" class="internal-link text-bone underline decoration-ash/30 hover:decoration-gold underline-offset-2">light heavyweight champion told MMA Fighting that coaching Pereira — who fights Ciryl Gane for the interim heavyweight title at UFC White House later this month — has sharpened his own understanding of feints, entries, and fight strategy. "His vision, his striking, the way he approaches a fight, the feints he uses, it's all high-level," Teixeira said, per the outlet. "He has an incredibly high fight IQ and I'm learning a lot from him."

Teixeira expects knockout wins for both fighters

Teixeira and Pereira now train lightly together after the Brazilian's 2023 retirement, with Teixeira focusing more on coaching while occasionally jumping in for technical rounds. The two-time title challenger said Pereira will return the favor by advising him once the White House card wraps. Both men are chasing stoppages — Pereira against the former heavyweight interim champ Gane, Teixeira against the UFC Hall of Famer Rua.

Teixeira, now 46, and Rua, 44, both hung up their gloves on the same night at UFC 283 in January 2023. The matchup never materialized inside the octagon despite promotion interest in 2012, but it will happen under boxing rules instead. Teixeira believes the ruleset tilts in his favor because Rua loses the knees and kicks that made him dangerous in PRIDE. "If it were kickboxing, we'd say Shogun has the better chances," he said, per MMA Fighting. "But boxing is the perfect middle ground."

The Spaten Fight Night 3 card goes down in three months, giving both veterans time to round into shape for what Teixeira expects to be a high-output brawl at close range.

Original reporting:

• mmafighting.com — Glover Teixeira learning from Alex Pereira’s ‘incredibly high fight IQ’ for Shogun Rua fight, expects Poatan to knock out Ciryl Gane | MMA Fighting