Texeira makes history and is the new champion

The Brazilian became the longest-reigning champion in modern UFC history on Saturday by taking the light heavyweight title from Poland’s Jan Blachowicz in the UFC 267 main event at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Teixeira, 42, submitted Blachowicz in the second round with a rear-naked choke to strip him of the 205-pound crown in emphatic fashion.

From the start of the bout Teixeira was more aggressive and took the initiative, both with his punches and takedowns.

In total, Teixeira landed 71 total punches out of 93 thrown (76 percent effective) to Blachowicz’s 53, who was more effective with his power punches with 28 to the Brazilian’s 23.

However, the statistic that ended up deciding the fight favored Teixeira with two takedowns in six attempts, the second one was to fit him with a rear-naked choke that forced the Pole to surrender.

This was just the second headlining opportunity in Teixeira’s long career, who lost by unanimous decision to Jon Jones in 2014, improving his record to 33-7.

Blachowicz, meanwhile, stalled at 28-9 and saw the end of a streak of five straight wins, including a two-round knockout over Dominick Reyes to claim the division’s vacant title and a unanimous decision win over Israel Adesanya for his first defense.

In the co-featured fight, Russian Petr Yan claimed the interim bantamweight championship with a wide unanimous decision over Cory Sandhagen on identical 49-46 scorecards.

Prospects Islam Makhachev and Khamzat Chimaev scored first round submissions over Dan Hooker and Li Jiingliang at lightweight and welterweight, respectively.