Glover Teixeira Outweighs Shogun Rua by 10 Pounds for Sao Paulo Boxing Bout

Glover Teixeira and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua both made weight Friday morning ahead of their eight-round boxing match at Spaten Fight Night 3 in Sao Paulo, and the scale tipped decisively toward Teixeira. He came in at 240 pounds, a full 10 heavier than Rua's 230, with both men comfortably under the 242-pound ceiling for Saturday's card.

It's a crossover event stacked with names who spent years trading punches inside the Octagon. Teixeira retired as a former UFC light heavyweight champion carrying a 33-9 mark (18 KO, 10 SUB), while Rua — one of the most beloved knockout artists the promotion ever produced — closed his MMA book at 27-14-1 with 21 knockouts to his name. Now they'll settle it with gloves on, eight two-minute rounds, no takedowns allowed.

The 10-pound edge matters more than it might sound in a boxing context. Teixeira always fought physically bigger than the 205-pound limit suggested, and Rua's last MMA outing was a first-round KO loss to Ihor Potieria, the kind of night that tends to hurry a fighter toward retirement. Teixeira, for his part, last competed against Jamahal Hill, dropping a unanimous decision in a title fight before hanging up the gloves.

The Real Weight Story

As lopsided as 10 pounds looks, it's a rounding error next to the judo bout on the same card. Olympic gold medalist Bia Souza stepped on the scale at a staggering 293 pounds, 33 more than opponent Raz Hershko at 260.

That's a rematch worth watching. Souza beat Hershko in the 2024 Olympic heavyweight final, and now the two meet again — this time on a combat-sports variety card rather than the biggest stage in their sport. A 33-pound gulf between elite judoka is the sort of number that reshapes a grip fight before it starts.

Judo isn't the only discipline getting a look. Rafaela Silva and Prisca Awiti both hit 138 pounds for their match, while the jiu-jitsu portion pits Felipe Preguica (228) against Nicholas Meregali (220) — a grappling clash of two heavily decorated names.

The Title on the Line

For all the legacy-fight nostalgia, the card does carry actual hardware. Luan Medeiros and Juan Cruz both made 134 for a boxing showdown over the vacant WBA Fedelatin USA lightweight title. Both fighters cleared the scale without drama.

That's the piece of the event with the clearest sporting stakes. Regional belts don't move the needle in the way a world title does, but they're the currency young boxers use to build toward bigger nights — and it gives the Sao Paulo crowd something to invest in beyond the reunion tour.

The multi-discipline format is a familiar Brazilian recipe by now: boxing, judo and jiu-jitsu on one bill, headlined by names who don't need a lengthy introduction. Teixeira and Rua are the marquee draw for obvious reasons. Both spent the back half of the 2010s and early 2020s as fixtures at 205 pounds, and both closed their UFC runs on losses.

The obvious caveat: this is boxing, not MMA. Neither man built his reputation on pure hands, and eight rounds under a strict ruleset is a different animal from a five-round cage fight where grappling and clinch work carry the day. The heavier man usually holds an edge in that setting, which nudges the read toward Teixeira — but crossover exhibitions have a way of ignoring the tape.

What happens Saturday night in Sao Paulo won't shift any UFC rankings — both fighters are retired from MMA and unranked. What it offers is a chance for two respected veterans to share a ring one more time, and for a couple of Olympic and grappling standouts to add chapters to rivalries that started far from the boxing ropes.