UFC Nashville blew the roof off Bridgestone Arena this past weekend (Sat., July 12, 2025) in Nashville, Tenn., leaving several fighters feeling the post-fight blues. Among them was Calvin Kattar, who suffered his fifth straight loss after coming up short against Steve Garcia.
And Junior Tafa, who had a rude welcome to the Light Heavyweight division after he was submitted by Tuco Tokkos in the second round (see it here). But, which fighter is suffering from the worst post-fight hangover, now a few days removed from the show?
Coming into his headlining bout against Derrick Lewis, Teixeira was taking a huge step up in competition. After all, the 25-year-old had just one fight under UFC’s banner — a knockout win over Justin Tafa — after earning his way in via Contender Series.
And it didn’t take long for it to show.
Teixiera clipped “Black Beast” early with a solid strike to his right eye, which bothered the hulking big man, and had a lot of people wondering if it wasn’t an eye poke. After shaking it off, Lewis bum-rushed the towering Heavyweight and clipped him with a bomb that dropped him. “Black Beast” pounced, and while he did connect a few shots, they weren’t all clean, which is the reason many people called early stoppage (see it again here).
Nevertheless, Lewis got the win and Teixeira tasted defeat for the first time.
For Teixeira, it was his first loss and huge lesson inside the cage against one of the most experienced big men in the sport. Sure, a win would have been huge for his career, but it shows that trying to go too fast sometimes simply isn’t worth it. Hindsight is always 20/20, but taking a lower-ranked — perhaps less experienced big man — would have been the more practical road to take.
On the bright side, Teixiera is just 25 years old and has been a professional for a little more than four years, so time is definitely on his side. Indeed, he has the time to get better and learn how to pace himself when the opposition calls for it. I fully expect him to still be a head-hunter, too, and he can rack up wins in a hurry as he has shown in the past.
As far as what could be next for him, perhaps a showdown against Mick Parkin is in order. Like Teixeira, Parkin is coming off his first-ever defeat at the hands of Marcin Tybura earlier this year. Prior to that, Parkin had won 10 in a row, including his first four fights under UFC’s banner.
Anyway, that’s out suggestion, care to offer yours?
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This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
