This Month’s MMA Birthdays: Glover Teixeira Celebrates No. 40

If Glover Teixeira’s career ended today, he would go down in history as one of the best fighters of all-time never to win a major mixed martial arts championship. The longtime Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt will celebrate his 40th birthday on Oct. 28.

Teixeira made his professional debut in 2002, went 2-2 through his first four appearances and then rattled off 20 consecutive victories between May 5, 2006 and Sept. 4, 2013 -- a remarkable run of sustained success in which he emerged as one of the sport’s premier competitors at 205 pounds. He fell short in his bid to unseat Jon Jones for the Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight crown in a five-round unanimous decision defeat at UFC 172 but continues to operate at a high level. Victories over Quinton Jackson, Ryan Bader, Rashad Evans, Jared Cannonier and Misha Cirkunov highlight Teixeira’s stellar resume. He last competed at UFC Fight Night 158 on Sept. 14, when he eked out a split decision over Nikita Krylov and extended his current winning streak to three fights.

Others in MMA celebrating a birthday during the month of October:

OCT. 1

Helio Gracie, 1913-2009
Devin Cole, 43
Jerrod Sanders, 39
Ryan LaFlare, 36
Alexander Hernandez, 27

OCT. 2

David Heath, 43
Takayo Hashi, 42
Alexandre Pimentel, 41
Ed Herman, 39
Alex Reyes, 33

OCT. 3

Thiago Alves, 36
Leo Kuntz, 36
Dave Herman, 35
Seok Mo Kim, 33
Sirwan Kakai, 30

OCT. 4

Milton Vieira, 41
Joshua Burkman, 39
Liam McGeary, 37
Alexis Davis, 35
Ralek Gracie, 34
Jocelyn Jones-Lybarger, 34
Andrew Bard, 32
Erik Koch, 31
Michinori Tanaka, 29

OCT. 5

Hiromitsu Kanehara, 49
Rich Franklin, 45
Matt Hamill, 43
Kyle Baker, 39
Robert Drysdale, 38

OCT. 6

Olly Bradstreet, 36
Brett Martinez, 33
Masio Fullen, 32
Jennifer Maia, 31
Yair Rodriguez, 27

OCT. 7

Akihiro Gono, 45
Kyacey Uscola, 38
Chris Mickle, 36
Yuta Sasaki, 30
Jordan Wright, 28

OCT. 8

Siala-Mou Siliga, 49
Ryo Chonan, 43
Roger Hollett, 41
Francisco Rivera, 38
Will Brooks, 33

OCT. 9

Gene LeBell, 87
Josh Diekmann, 43
Luis Palomino, 39
Jorge Santiago, 39
Blagoy Ivanov, 33

OCT. 10

Brad Mitchell, 45
Brandon Vera, 42
Douglas Evans, 39
Terry Martin, 39
Doo Won Seo, 38
Carla Esparza, 32
Jordan Mein, 30

OCT. 11

Francis Carmont, 38
Charles Byrd, 36
Nick Denis, 36
Desmond Green, 30
Sheymon Moraes, 29
Dave Burrow, 28

OCT. 12

Fred Ettish, 64
John McCarthy, 57
Wes Sims, 40
Jason High, 38
Bashir Ahmad, 37
Ronnie Mann, 33
Omari Akhmedov, 32
Kyoji Horiguchi, 29

OCT. 13

Matt Hughes, 46
Bryan Baker, 34
Talita Nogueira, 34
John Albert, 33
Saiful Merican, 31

OCT. 14

Kathina Lowe, 34
Tony Sims, 34
Jim Alers, 33
Josh Grispi, 31
Jiri Prochazka, 27

OCT. 15

Darren Uyenoyama, 40
Art Arciniega, 38
Jacob Draves, 37
Vaughan Lee, 37
Karolina Kowalkiewicz, 34

OCT. 16

Kazuyuki Fujita, 49
Mike Hayes, 39
Rafael Rebello, 39
Frankie Edgar, 38
Maximo Blanco, 36

OCT. 17

Joey Villasenor, 44
Rex Richards, 39
Holly Holm, 38
Ben Rothwell, 38
Buddy Roberts, 37
Luke Rockhold, 35
Edimilson Souza, 35
Charles Oliveira, 30

OCT. 18

Stoney Hale, 40
Greg Nagy, 36
Alonzo Menifield, 32
Jorina Baars, 31
Ji Yeon Kim, 30

OCT. 19

Yukiko Seki, 49
Gilbert Smith, 38
Gokhan Saki, 36
Terry Etim, 34
Drew Dober, 31
Sabah Homasi, 31
Sean Powers, 30

OCT. 20

John Fraser, 42
Josh Copeland, 37
Hayder Hassan, 37
Paul Redmond, 33
Ashley Yoder, 32

OCT. 21

Gil Castillo, 54
Clint Godfrey, 37
Shawn Jordan, 35
Ed Ruth, 29
Lowen Tynanes, 29

OCT. 22

Ajlin Ahmic, 35
Kosuke Suzuki, 35
Rin Nakai, 33
Alex White, 31
Amanda Bobby Cooper, 28

OCT. 23

Jason Butcher, 35
Jeremy May, 33
Jake Collier, 31
Adam Piccolotti, 31
Andre Soukhamthath, 31

OCT. 24

Orlando Wiet, 54
David Mitchell, 40
James McSweeney, 39
Mark Bocek, 38
Jesse Forbes, 35
Kelvin Gastelum, 28
James Gallagher, 23

OCT. 25

Eric Davila, 43
Jeremiah O'Neal, 42
Keith Wisniewski, 38
Augusto Montano, 35
Danielle Taylor, 30

OCT. 26

Mark Schultz, 59
Phil Brooks, 41
Alejandro Villalobos, 41
Seth Baczynski, 38
Cindy Dandois, 35
Rafael dos Anjos, 35

OCT. 27

Semmy Schilt, 46
Sherron Leggett, 41
Misaki Takimoto, 39
Tessa Simpson, 33
Julio Arce, 30

OCT. 28

Jigoro Kano, 1860-1938
Bobby Hoffman, 53
Alex Chambers, 41
Glover Teixeira, 40
L.C. Davis, 39
Will Noland, 39

OCT. 29

Will Kerr, 37
Jason Langellier, 36
Antonio Braga Neto, 32
Matthew Lozano, 31
Shinju Nozawa-Auclair, 26

OCT. 30

Hong Man Choi, 39
Katsunori Kikuno, 38
Ed West, 36
Jason Jackson, 29
Veronica Macedo, 24

OCT. 31

Keith Jardine, 44
Joe Warren, 43
Daniel Kelly, 42
Waylon Lowe, 39
Yoshiro Maeda, 38
Myles Jury, 31