Glover Teixeira vs. Ryan Bader on tap for UFC 160

Thirty-three-year-old Brazilian Glover Teixeira (20-2) will face 29-year-old fellow light heavyweight Ryan Bader (15-3) May 25 at UFC 160 in Las Vegas as part of the organization’s Memorial Day weekend card headlined by Cain Velasquez vs. Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva for the UFC Heavyweight Title.

The UFC announced the bout via Twitter on Tuesday:

“@UFCTonight: #Breaking: @kjnoons will face @Cowboycerrone at #UFC160!” Plus @ryanbader vs @gloverteixeira a go for Memorial Day!

— UFC (@ufc) February 20, 2013

Teixeira, a Pit-trained protege of the legendary Chuck Liddell, has had three fights thus far inside the UFC Octagon. If it wasn’t for his visa issues, Teixeira would have been in the UFC long ago, having served as Liddell’s main training partner when “The Iceman” was at the top of his game.

Teixeira made his UFC debut in May 2012 with a first round submission win over Kyle Kingsbury. He returned in October to score a second round TKO win over Fabio Maldonado.

Then in January 2013, in his highest profile fight to date, Teixeira went toe-to-toe with knockout artist Quinton “Rampage” Jackson for three full rounds, completely dominating him for a unanimous decision win.

Bader also holds a unanimous decision win over Jackson from February 2012 at UFC 144. Bader returned to the Octagon in August 2012, suffering a first round knockout loss to former 205-pound champ Lyoto Machida.

Bader rebounded in style on January 26, 2103, when he scored a “submission of the night” win over Vladimir Matyushenko on the UFC on Fox 6 preliminary card.

According to the official UFC rankings, Teixeira is currently ranked at No. 4, while Bader is ranked at No. 9.

Other UFC 160 bouts include KJ Noons vs. Donald Cerrone, Amir Sadollah vs. Stephen Thompson and Alistair Overeem vs. Junior Dos Santos.