MMAjunkie Radio co-host and MMAjunkie contributor Dan Tom breaks down UFC Fight Night 134’s top bouts. Today, we look at the Corey Anderson vs. Glover Teixeira co-main event.

UFC Fight Night 134 takes place Sunday at Barclaycard Arena in Hamburg, Germany, and it airs on FS1 following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass.

Also see:

• UFC Hamburg main-event breakdown: Can Anthony Smith make noise at 205 against ex-champ ‘Shogun’ Rua?

Glover Teixeira (27-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC)

Glover Teixeira (USA TODAY Sports)

Staple info:

• Height: 6’2″ Age: 38 Weight: 205 lbs. Reach: 76″
• Last fight: TKO win over Misha Cirkunov (Dec. 16, 2017)
• Camp: Teixeira MMA (Danbury, CT)
• Stance/striking style: Orthodox/kickboxing
• Risk management: Good

Supplemental info:
+ Regional MMA titles
+ Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt
+ 17 KO victories
+ 6 submission wins
+ 18 first-round finishes
+ KO power
+ Solid boxing technique
^ Accurate right cross and left hook
+ Good economy of movement
^ Rarely throws self out of position
+ Underrated wrestling ability
^ Works well from single-leg
+ Improved getup urgency
^ Uses underhooks and turtles out
+ Excellent transitional grappler

Corey Anderson (10-4 MMA, 9-8 UFC)

Corey Anderson (USA TODAY Sports).

Staple info:

• Height: 6’3″ Age: 28 Weight: 205 lbs. Reach: 79″
• Last fight: Decision win over Patrick Cummins (April 21, 2018)
• Camp: Nick Catone MMA (New Jersey)
• Stance/striking style: Orthodox/kickboxing
• Risk management: Good

Supplemental info:
+ “The Ultimate Fighter” season 19 winner
+ Regional MMA title
+ 2x All-American wrestler
+ Brazilian jiu-jitsu blue belt
+ 4 KO victories
+ 3 first-round finishes
+ Consistent pace and pressure
^ High-volume approach
+ Good footwork
+ Solid strike-to-takedown transitions
^ Favors level-changling doubles
+ Excellent top game
^ Improved lever and controls
+ Active ground striker
+ Shows fight-to-fight improvements

Summary:

The co-main event in for UFC Fight Night 134 features a fun matchup between ranked light heavyweights Glover Teixeira and Corey Anderson.

A perrenial contender at 205 pounds, Teixeira has been trying to earn his way back to a title shot for some time now, something I’m sure the Brazilian veteran will be attempting to remind the masses of come Sunday. Standing in his way is Anderson, a young fighter whose workaholic nature has allowed him to step in on short notice for an injured Ilir Latifi.

Starting off on the feet, we have a pairing of two pressure fighters who go about their business in different ways.

Finding a balance between sticking and moving, Anderson achieves his desired cooking temperatures through a high-output approach of striking volume and transitional takedown threats. Using this rinse-wash-and-repeat method, Anderson will steadily tenderize his opposition without letting off the gas.

Even though Anderson’s striking volume has won him many rounds in the octagon, his transition game glues everything together. Similarly to his stablemate, Frankie Edgar, Anderson mixes in volume and variety to keep his opposition behind the 8-ball.

However, despite Anderson’s most recent display of improved head movement and footwork, this still opens him up to undesirable traffic due to the nature of the numbers he puts up. With that in mind, the 28-year-old will need to be on point when entering pocket space with Teixeira.

A more traditional stalker, Teixeira will steadily come forward as he, too, looks to ply pressure, pushing his opponent back and forcing them to answer any time he can. Often starting with a lead right hand, the 38-year-old Brazilian will bait his opposition into exchanging with him, all while keeping his cleanup-hitting left hook ready.

Although Teixeira will seldom throw himself out of position, leading often from your power side is a tactic that is more heavily reliant on speed, something that tends to go with age. And with most of Teixeira’s recent trouble in striking exchanges stemming off these moments, Anderson may find himself scoring more often than the numbers would have you believe.

Still, I see wrestling potentially playing a role in the outcome of this fight.

Takedown threats and the ability to ride positions are a crucial part of Anderson’s game. “The Ultimate Fighter 19” winner works well when chaining off attempts from the fence and shows little issue when it comes to hitting reactive shots in the open. However, he will be up against one of the more unheralded and competent MMA wrestlers in the weight class.

Teixeira, who wrestled in Brazil, has always possessed underrated skills in this department since his early career, effortlessly chaining off from his favored home base of the single-leg position. Teixeira also displays solid layers of defensive grappling, either stuffing initial shots or smartly re-wrestling his way back to his feet when taken down. Even after being repeatedly rocked and dropped by Alexander Gustafsson, the Brazilian was able to immediately attack off his back and initiate an intelligent scramble that allowed him to get back into the fight.

That said, Teixeira will need to be careful whenever tripoding to turtling to stand given that Anderson’s relentless positional rides will likely be lying in wait.

Not only is Anderson able to ground his opponents, but he has also done better at keeping them down, a problem that has been a persistent theme in looking closely at his previous fights. Anderson always displayed a solid understanding of levers and wrist-rides as he would actively pick off his opposition’s posts, but his eagerness to apply his high-volume offense would often allow for openings to stand.

Noting this issue, Anderson showed to adjust his approach against Sean O’Connell, utilizing heavy shoulder pressure to keep positions, as well as implementing safer rides like a three-quarter mount (ala Demian Maia). Nevertheless, Anderson will still need to be careful when scrambling with the savvy vet, especially if he gets caught returning to his wrestling roots a la turtle position for too long.

As we’ve seen in many of Teixeira’s fights before, the Brazilian can close the show if you turtle-out or expose your back. A fluent pressure passer and positional rider, Teixeira is a master chef when it comes to cooking his opposition underneath him.

Methodically (and brutally) using ground strikes, Teixeira adds fuel to the fire as he force-feeds his opponents into head-and-arm chokes if they turn into him, or rear-naked-chokes if they turn away. Anderson is not one to be grounded in these positions, but he’ll need to be aware that they exist.

The oddsmakers and public seem to be siding with the veteran, listing Teixeira -175 and Anderson +155 as of this writing.

Considering Anderson’s history with athletic heavy-hitters and his short notice status, I can see why the younger man is the underdog. Teixeira, who is amongst the classiest fighters in the game and one of the last men to make excuses, did suffer a bad weight cut in his loss to Phil Davis. And considering the 16-year pro has been able to competitively wrestle with every opponent before or since, I’m not sure exactly how much security and shelter Anderson will have in those areas.

Anderson, however, is the more likely of the two to come in as a different or improved version of himself, which is probably a factor that will keep the betting lines tight. Ultimately, this feels like the type of fight in which Anderson finds himself out-pointing Teixeira and winning exchanges – all the way until the point to where he’s not. The pick is Teixeira to score a knockout off of a break from the fence in the second round.

Official pick: Teixeira inside the distance

For more on UFC Fight Night 134, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.