Teixeira credits Pereira sparring for confidence ahead of UFC Macau clash with Pavlovich

Tallison Teixeira enters Saturday’s UFC Macau bout against Sergei Pavlovich as a significant underdog, but the Brazilian heavyweight says a training camp alongside Alex Pereira has left him more confident than ever heading into the toughest test of his UFC career.

Pavlovich sits third in the UFC’s official heavyweight rankings and carries a record of 11 UFC appearances with only three defeats — losses to Alistair Overeem, Alexander Volkov and Tom Aspinall — making him a -650 favourite. Teixeira, a 6-foot-7 Brazilian who has won two of his first three fights in the promotion, acknowledges the difficulty of the matchup but insists his preparation has been transformative.

The key ingredient was his camp with Glover Teixeira and light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira. Speaking on the Overdogs Brasil podcast, Teixeira — nicknamed “Xicão” — described what it was like to share the mat with Pereira.

“He is third in the heavyweight rankings, but I trained with Alex, who is one of the greatest in the sport, which gave me a lot of confidence for this fight,” Teixeira said. “Glover has always been a reference for me in grappling, and Alex is beyond words. In our sparring, he threw some hands that I felt like God was trying to pull me away. Thank God he didn’t connect.”

The anecdote underlines both the quality of Pereira’s striking and the resilience Teixeira believes he has built through the experience. For a fighter still establishing himself at heavyweight, surviving rounds with one of the sport’s most feared knockout artists carries obvious psychological value.

“Without a doubt, it was the best camp of my life,” Teixeira added. “I know Pavlovich is dangerous, but I’m very confident.”

A win over Pavlovich would represent a significant leap up the heavyweight ladder for Teixeira and could position him as a genuine contender in a division that remains wide open beneath champion Jon Jones.