Champ Daniel Cormier doesn't see Glover Teixeira as threat: 'What's he going to do?'

Daniel Cormier

Glover Teixeira believes his UFC Fight Night 73 victory over Ovince Saint Preux entered his name in the UFC light heavyweight title contender discussion.

Champion Daniel Cormier isn’t buying it.

Following his third-round submission of Saint Preux in Nashville, Teixeira (23-4 MMA, 6-2 UFC) politely called for a championship showdown with Cormier (16-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC).

“I’m not a trash talker, but I’m calling you out,” Teixeira said on FOX Sports 1’s post-fight show. “He’s a great champion and he deserves to be champion. He’s the champion right now, who else am I going to come for?”

Cormier, who won the vacant 205-pound belt stripped from Jon Jones with a victory over Anthony Johnson earlier this year, served as an analyst on the UFC Fight Night 73 post-fight show, already has a title defense scheduled against Alexander Gustafsson (16-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC) at UFC 192 in October.

After that, Cormier said he believes the winner of the Rashad Evans (19-3-1 MMA, 14-3-1 UFC) vs. Ryan Bader (19-4 MMA, 12-4 UFC) matchup on the same card, should get the next crack at his belt.

“He keeps on (calling me out); he’s doing it time and time again,” Cormier said. “Listen, Glover Teixeira, great job. You fought well. You’ve got more work to do. Don’t go jumping the line. My man Rashad Evans, if he gets past Ryan Bader, deserves the next shot. Slow down Mr. Teixeira.”

Teixeira’s victory over Saint Preux was his first since September 2013. The Brazilian entered the event with back-to-back losses to Jones and Phil Davis after a 22-fight unbeaten streak that dated to 2005, but the submission of “OSP” put him back on track.

The former title challenger used a wrestling-heavy game plan to overwhelm Saint Preux on the mat before he ended the fight with a rear-naked choke. Cormier said he’s not convinced Teixeira has the skillset to best him inside the octagon and believes more wins are necessary before he can be sold as a convincing challenger.

“Come on – that guy you saw fighting is not beating me,” Cormier said. “He did a good job but he’s not beating me. I saw improvement in his conditioning. What’s he going to do? Take me down repeatedly? Glover Teixeira needs more fights. I cannot say coming off a loss and one win shouldn’t get you a title fight. I got a title fight. Gustafsson got a title fight off a loss. We never really know what’s going to happen with Glover.”

Although Gustafsson, Evans, Bader and potentially Teixeira are a difficult line of opponents, Cormier said none of those matchups are what he desires most. Cormier ultimately wants a rematch with Jones if and when “Bones” returns from his indefinite suspension, but if it’s not him, he sees Evans as next after Gustafsson at UFC 192.

“Truth is, honestly, if (Evans and I are) both victorious and we have some resolution to the Jon Jones, I would love to fight Jon Jones and Rashad would have to wait,” Cormier said. “If Jon Jones’ situation isn’t resolved, then Rashad will likely be next (if he beats Bader).”

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 73, check out the UFC Events section of the site.