Glover Teixeira attempted to play a humorous prank on Tom Aspinall ahead of the UFC’s return to Madison Square Garden on Saturday.
Undisputed UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones successfully defended his title in the evening’s main event, smashing his way through Stipe Miocic via a third-round TKO. Aspinall was on hand for the festivities and actually weighed in 24 hours earlier as the official backup for the fight should either ‘Bones’ or Miocic need to be replaced in the 11th hour.
As the backup, Aspinall was required to adhere to strict rules, including no consumption of alcohol up until Jones vs. Miocic actually got underway.
So, of course, Teixeira, who has been known to be a bit of a prankster alongside his friend and light heavyweight successor Alex Pereira, tried to play a little trick on the interim titleholder.
Glover Teixeira always trolling
“Tom, they just called me. Jon Jones tripped in the bus, so don’t be drinking, okay?” pic.twitter.com/R2mGXt6ruK
— MMA Orbit (@mma_orbit) November 17, 2024
“Tom you know, they just call me,” Teixeira said with a smile. I just got a call, Jon Jones, he trip in the bus, you know? So don’t be drinking, okay?”
“I’m on the water [laughing]!. Top man,” Aspinall replied.
Considering Teixeira couldn’t mask his smile for even a moment, it wasn’t hard for Aspinall to sniff out the lie.
Luckily, the heavyweight headliner went off without a hitch and Aspinall even banked an extra 200k just for showing up and sitting in the stands. Following Jones’ big win, he left the door open for a title unification clash with Apsinall who has held the interim heavyweight belt since a 69-second knockout of Sergei Pavlovich last year.
Interestingly, Aspinall opened as a -135 favorite in a yet-to-be-announced scrap with the consensus GOAT of MMA.
