Claudia Gadelha Says Fight With Joanna Jędrzejczyk Is Personal

Claudia Gadelha, who was supposed to fight Joanna Jędrzejczyk at UFC 195 for the women’s strawweight championship, was pulled from that fight due to her tearing ligaments while training for the fight, but is scheduled to be ready in February.

The UFC then announced that Valerie Letourneau will replace her and fight Joanna Jędrzejczyk at UFC 193 in the co-main event.

Whoever the winner is between Jędrzejczyk and Letourneau, Gadelha is ready to fight the winner. She is the clear cut number one contender to the strawweight title.

In a recent interview, Gadelha stated that she wants a fight with Jędrzejczyk because to her, it’s personal.

“I want this fight. But as I said, I am the number 1 ranking, so I want to fight for the title. My goal is the belt. I’ve fought with Valerie and won well. Either of the two for me it was great to compete in the belt, but this fight against Joanna has to happen for me and for her. It’s personal.”

Gadelha went on to say that she believes that Jędrzejczyk has knockout power, but strongly believes she can’t finish Valerie. When giving a prediction for the fight, Gadelha thinks it will go the distance with Jędrzejczyk getting her hand raised.

“I think Valerie is good at striking, her floor is the type of Joanna, median, can defend well on the ground, can defend well fall, but I believe that Joanna has more knockout power. Valerie still down two categories of overweight straw and so I think she will not surrender the five rounds, so this fight should last about three rounds. Joanna wins for sure.”

UFC 193 will be held on November 15, 2015 (in the U.S) from Melbourne, Australia at Etihad Stadium.