Tallison Teixeira is the tallest fighter on the UFC roster today at 80 inches, and the Brazilian will tower over his UFC 312 opponent Justin Tafa this weekend in Sydney. Tafa is one of the shortest men in the UFC’s heavyweight division (72 inches), giving “Xicão” huge advantage.
Teixeira, however, doesn’t treat it as clear sign that he will dominate his rival in the cage.
“I normally fight guys that are 75 inches or over so he’s the shortest so far, but he has heavy hands,” Teixeira told MMA Fighting. “I think some people have this false illusion that size helps a lot. It does if you know how to use it. If you know how to use the weapons you have… If that didn’t matter people wouldn’t go to basketball, they’d all go to MMA, right?”
“I’m more used to fighting people his size than he is fighting people my size,” he continued. “I don’t think there’s anyone with my size in the MMA scene right now. The only bad part of being this big is takedowns. It’s harder to take down people that short [laughs]. Tafa is short for the division but I can’t underestimate him because he has heavy hands — and heavy hands hurt even when they come from down there.”
Stefan Struve was the tallest fighter in UFC history (84.2 inches) and has scored big wins throughout his 13-11 career in the company, defeating legends like Stipe Miocic and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Sergei Pavlovich has an 84-inch reach and stands as one of highest-ranked heavyweights in the UFC today. Yet, Teixeira sees both as examples of fighters who don’t make the best use of their physical attributes.
“When a person is too tall they normally end up being slower and unorthodox. Like Struve, who was taller than me but didn’t have a long career,” said Teixeira, who also has an incredibly long reach (84.5 inches). “You have to know how to explore every aspect of it. Pavlovich has this gigantic reach, but sometimes prefers to close the distance on the feet. Being tall or having long reach doesn’t always gives you advantage if you don’t know how to work properly. If you do, it’s an advantage. If you don’t, then it makes no difference.”
The 25-year-old Brazilian walked through Arthur Lopes at Dana White’s Contender Series to earn a deal with the UFC and was booked against Lukasz Brzeski in December. He was forced off UFC 310 with an injury, but quickly re-booked against Tafa for the Feb. 8 pay-per-view show.
Teixeira said he has envisioned this fight “a million times in my head,” and is prepared to balance the anxiety of making the first walk to the UFC cage in enemy territory to emerge victorious in the end.
“Justin is a southpaw so I had to make some adjustments and changes [from Brzeski], but the gameplan itself doesn’t change much,” Teixeira said. “They’re both dangerous, of course, but I think it doesn’t change much when I’m imposing my game, you know? I’ve envisioned myself taking him down and submitting, I’ve envisioned ground and pound finish, standing knockouts, but I’ve seen myself winning a decision as well. It’s my debut, so winning is what matters right now. I rushed for the finish in all my fights, but now is time to be patient and win.”
