Tallison Teixeira credits Alex Pereira

Tallison Teixeira is walking into UFC Macau as the underdog, but he is not talking like a man who came to China just to survive three rounds with Sergei Pavlovich.

The Brazilian heavyweight has one of the hardest assignments on the card. Pavlovich is still one of the most dangerous punchers in the division, a ranked UFC heavyweight with the kind of power that changes a fight before it has time to settle. Teixeira knows that. He is not pretending this is a normal step up. He is treating it like the fight that can change his place in the division quickly.

That is why his camp with Alex Pereira and Glover Teixeira matters. Teixeira did not spend fight week selling some empty confidence line. He pointed to the work he got in the gym, the rounds with Pereira, the grappling influence from Glover, and the feeling that his preparation finally matched the size of the opportunity.

Teixeira leaned on Pereira

Teixeira said training with Pereira gave him real confidence before Pavlovich. That is easy to understand. Pereira is not a heavyweight by division, but he carries the kind of timing and power that forces big men to behave carefully. If a young heavyweight can stand across from Pereira in the gym, read the traps, stay calm and keep working, that does something to the mind before a fight like this.

Teixeira was honest about those sparring rounds too. He said Pereira threw shots that made him feel like God was trying to pull him away, then added, “Thank God he didn’t connect.” It was a funny line, but also a useful one. There is no fake toughness in it. Teixeira knows what Pereira brings. He also knows that feeling danger in camp is part of why he believes he is ready now.

He called it the best camp of his life and said he is very confident, even while admitting Pavlovich is dangerous. That balance is exactly where a fighter needs to be before this kind of matchup. Too much fear and he freezes. Too much confidence and he walks onto the right hand. Teixeira sounds aware of both edges.

• Teixeira prepared with Alex Pereira and Glover Teixeira before UFC Macau.
• He said sparring with Pereira gave him more confidence for Pavlovich.
• Pavlovich remains one of the hardest punchers in the UFC heavyweight division.
• A win would move Teixeira much deeper into the heavyweight conversation.

Pavlovich brings a different problem

For all the attention around Pereira, the real problem is still Pavlovich. He does not need long combinations to hurt people. He does not need a clean five-minute read. His best work comes when opponents are still trying to find range and he is already stepping in with heavy straight shots.

Teixeira has size, youth and confidence, but Pavlovich has been through the uglier part of the UFC heavyweight climb. He has fought top names, felt elite pressure and learned how quickly one bad exchange can flip a fight. That matters against a 6-foot-7 opponent who is still trying to prove where his ceiling really sits.

The matchup is not complicated on the surface. Teixeira wants to use his frame, keep composure and show that his preparation with Pereira and Glover was not just good footage for a training story. Pavlovich wants to make the fight violent early, take away the Brazilian’s rhythm and remind everyone why heavyweight prospects do not get a gentle entrance into the rankings.

A heavyweight jump is waiting

This is the kind of heavyweight fight where one result can change the tone around a fighter fast. Teixeira is not just facing a name. He is facing a measuring stick. If he beats Pavlovich, the conversation moves from prospect talk to ranked heavyweight talk in one night.

That is the difficult part of the division. Heavyweight does not give young fighters much room to learn quietly once they get near the top 15. One punch can punish every mistake. One win can also erase months of doubt. Teixeira has already had enough UFC experience to know the speed of the jump, but Pavlovich is still a different level of danger.

There is also a good human edge here. Teixeira is not trying to sound invincible. He respects Pavlovich’s power. He respects Pereira’s power even more after sharing the gym with him. But he is choosing to read that danger as proof that the camp hardened him, not as a reason to shrink before the fight.

UFC Macau gives him the cleanest test possible: no long speech, no slow build, no soft opponent. Just a ranked heavyweight across the cage and a chance to show that the rounds with Pereira were not just a cool detail from camp. They were part of a fighter trying to grow up quickly in the most unforgiving division in the sport.