Despite her unsuccessful title bid in the UFC, Claudia Gadelha did have her shining moments in the Octagon. One of her Fight of the Night performances came against former strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk, whom she fought twice and lost to on both occasions.
Now retired, the 33-year-old Gadelha – who also works for the UFC as an athlete development director – still wants a third bout with Jedrzejczyk. But this time around, she wants it in her world.
“I’d really have liked to do a third fight with Joanna. A lot. A lot,” Gadelha said in a recent interview with MMA Fighting’s Trocação Franca podcast. “I think those two fights were really close, and I would’ve loved to have fought her a third time. I don’t regret not doing it. … But it would make me happy if it happens in jiu-jitsu.”
‘Claudinha,’ however, does not see it happening any time soon, if at all.
“I don’t think she’d agree to it. It will just linger in the air, really.”
Gadelha (18-5) last fought in November 2020 against Yan Xiaonan and lost via decision. She announced her retirement a year later.
As for Jedrzejczyk (16-4), she hasn’t fought since her 2020 Fight of the Year barnburner with Zhang Weili. The two women will get to do it all over again at UFC 275 in a week’s time.
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