Claudia Gadelha vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz added to UFC 212 in Brazil

Two top strawweight contenders will meet at UFC 212 in June.

Officials today announced Claudia Gadelha (14-2 MMA, 3-2 UFC), who’s No. 2 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA women’s strawweight rankings, takes on No. 4 Karolina Kowalkiewicz (10-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) at the summer event (via Twitter):

UFC 212 takes place June 3 at HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass, though the fight card and bout order haven’t been finalized.

Gadelha, a 28-year-old Brazilian, is looking for another shot at reigning champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk. In fact, since turning pro in 2008, she’s lost to just one fighter: Jedrzejczyk. The first came via split decision in a 2014 non-title fight, and the latest came in a failed bid for the title this past July. However, Gadelha recently rebounded with a unanimous-decision victory over Cortney Casey in November.

She now meets Kowalkiewicz, a 31-year-old Polish fighter who started her career 10-0, which included UFC victories over Randa Markos, Heather Clark and Rose Namajunas. However, in her most recent bout, she fell short in a title bid against champ Jedrzejczyk and suffered a unanimous-decision loss in a hard-fought and gritty performance.

The latest UFC 212 card now includes:

• Champ Jose Aldo vs. interim champ Max Holloway – featherweight title unification bout
• Claudia Gadelha vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz

For more on UFC 212, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.