Glover Lucas Teixeira is a Brazilian-American retired professional mixed martial artist. He competed in the Light Heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. Teixeira is a former member of the Brazilian National Wrestling Team and has competed in the WEC, Impact FC, PFC and Shooto. He is the second oldest UFC champion in history behind Randy Couture and the oldest first time champion in UFC history.
Teixeira at his training facility in 2019
Teixeira getting hands wrapped before a fight in 2019
Glover Teixeira with his UFC championship belt, 2021
Teixeira and Reid in 2014
Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. The first documented use of the term mixed martial arts was in a review of UFC 1 by television critic Howard Rosenberg in 1993.
Junior dos Santos vs. Shane Carwin, main event of UFC 131 in Vancouver in 2011
A Chinese martial artist preparing to throw his opponent during a lei tai contest in Ancient China.
The Pancrastinae: A statue portraying the pancratium, an event which took place in the Roman Colosseum. Even as late as the Early Middle Ages, statues were put up in Rome and other cities to honor remarkable pankratiasts. This statue, now part of the Uffizi collection, is a Roman copy of a lost Greek original, circa 3rd century BC.
Bruce Lee popularized the concept of mixed martial arts via his hybrid philosophy of Jeet Kune Do during the late 1960s to early 1970s.