After Jedrzejczyk rivalry, a lighter Claudia Gadelha could 'sleep well' through quiet camp for Casey

SAO PAULO – Two days away from her UFC Fight Night 100 appointment, onetime title challenger Claudia Gadelha celebrated the best weight cut of her life with only 4.5 pounds to go.

But that’s not the only way in which she felt lighter. Unlike what happened in the drama-filled lead-up to her last scrap, a five-round title affair against strawweight champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk, she could actually rest easy this time without having to engage in verbal wars.

“I know that today you have to talk, you have to promote your fight,” Gadelha told MMAjunkie. “But I grew up in the Brazilian jiu-jitsu philosophy. I learned to respect my opponent, their trainers and everybody. I’m not that kind of person. It’s just not inside me. Even though now I know I have to talk (expletive) to make money, I’m not going to do it because it’s not me. So I feel better that way.

“I could sleep well every night of my fight camp and not worry about what she was talking about me. Joanna really made me angry a lot of times during camp, during ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ (the two were coaches on the 23d season of the show), so now I feel much better about that too.”

Gadelha (13-2 MMA, 2-2 UFC) had already discussed the major changes made in her camp for Cortney Casey (6-3 MMA, 2-2 UFC) – her first in the U.S. But while she’s more than happy to be training under Chris Luttrell and Greg Jackson in Albuquerque, N.M., the former Nova Uniao staple is not fighting under any banners.

“I’m training with them, and I’m learning with them,” Gadelha said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen. Jair (Lourenco, head of Kimura Nova Uniao, the team’s branch in Natal) is going to America as well, and I’ve been training with him since I was a little girl.

“So, I really enjoy training with them. Chris Luttrell is one of the best coaches I’ve met in my life, and I want to be between them. I want to have them in my team and have my own team instead of defending another team.”

Gadelha and Casey meet on the FS1-televised main card portion of Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 100 event, which takes place at at Ibirapuera Gymnasium in Sao Paulo. Early prelims stream on UFC Fight Pass.

As happy as she is with the training conditions, Gadelha is still not committing to a full-time life abroad. Sporting a Brazilian flag on her sidecut, the 115-pounder said she plans to go back to her home country – though, for the time being, mostly for vacations.

As for the more immediate future, the No. 2 ranked fighter in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA women’s strawweight rankings doesn’t seem all that preoccupied with the unranked Casey, who wasn’t her first, second or third choice on a hit list led by former champ Carla Esparza.

While the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt takes Casey’s size and strength into account, she simply feels too good about her own preparation.

“She’s tall and heavy, and she uses that to bully her opponents,” Gadelha said. “She’s very strong. She has good jiu-jitsu and fast hands, but nothing fantastic. She’s good at every little thing but not fantastic in anything.

“I think she’s going to try to use her weight, her range, her size to make me tired, to make me fight stepping back the whole time. But I’m faster, stronger. Even though I’m lighter now, I feel like I’m stronger, healthier, and I’m ready to go. You’re going to see Claudia fighting forward the whole time.”

Thinking further down the road, Gadelha knows she’s in a tough spot. Having fought and lost to the current champ twice – in spite of disagreeing firmly with the result of the first one – she is trying not to fuss too much about title shots for now.

“For sure I want to fight for the belt,” Gadelha said. “For sure I want to be the champion. That’s why we’re fighting. I’m not there to be only one more fighter. I’m there to be at the top of the division, and I want to be the champion.

“But Joanna is there. I fought her twice. The first fight everybody knows (what happened). I don’t even need to talk about that. But I lost the first fight, and I think the best thing for me now would be seeing someone beating her and fight that person.

“But I’m thinking about my next opponent, and after that fight, I want to fight Carla, and I’m concentrating on these things now.”

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