UFC Fight Night 117 results: Jessica Andrade beats up Claudia Gadelha in bloody battle

Claudia Gadelha only had lost to strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk before Friday. Then Jessica Andrade came into her life.

Andrade (17-6 MMA, 8-4 UFC) took a unanimous decision from Gadelha (15-3 MMA, 4-3 UFC), her fellow Brazilian, with a mostly dominant performance that had both fighters bloody through most of the fight. Andrade won with scores of 30-25, 30-26 and 30-27.

The women’s strawweight bout was the co-main event of today’s UFC Fight Night 117 event at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, near Tokyo. It aired on FXX following prelims on the same channel.

Gadelha got her hands going a minute in. Andrade tried to work her head out of the way, but Gadelha got her strikes through. Andrade tried to lead the charge not long after that with punches, but Gadelha countered wht an elbow. Two minutes in, the two slugged it out, and Gadelha opened a cut on Andrade’s forehead.

With blood pouring from her opponent, Gadelha kept her striking going until Andrade pressed her against the fence. There, Andrade picked Gadelha up for a massive body slam that seemed to take Gadelha by surprise. Gadelha went after a guillotine choke, but couldn’t hold it, and that allowed Andrade to get on top to work ground-and-pound for the final 90 seconds of the round.

After some more slugging early in the second, and a clinch, Gadelha tried to take the fight to the ground – but it was Andrade who again got on top and landed big ground-and-pound with Gadelha against the fence. When Gadelha got back up, Andrade landed heavy knees.

The two went back to standing midway through, then slugged it out again. With both fighters bleeding, Andrade started to pour on the punishment with two minutes left. Gadelha backed up and looked wiped out while Andrade landed low kicks, then punches. Gadelha went after a takedown that was weak to say the least. And Andrade made her pay for it up against the fence, landing a barrage of punches.

With a minute left, they broke apart and traded again, and Gadelha landed a solid counter. But Andrade kept swinging for the finish. She couldn’t get it, and instead tried to pick Gadelha up for a slam. It didn’t come, but what came instead was the need to defend a deep guillotine choke from Andrade for the final 15 seconds of the round.

Andrade easily defended a takedown attempt 30 seconds into the final frame, then ate a knee to the midsection. And seconds later, Andrade easily picked Gadelha up for another massive slam. She quickly went into side control, then worked ground-and-pound. Gadelha recovered to partial guard, but it didn’t keep Andrade’s punishment at bay. Gadelha tried to answer when she got back to full guard, but there wasn’t much there.

With 90 seconds left, Andrade easily passed to side control, then Gadelha gave her back trying to get back to her feet. Gadelha got back to her feet late, but just before the horn Andrade landed another big slam in a near perfect performance.

Andrade got back in the win column after a May title shot loss to champion Jedrzejczyk. Gadelha had her two-fight winning streak snapped, which came on the heels of her own title shot to Jedrzejczyk.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 117 results include:

• Jessica Andrade def. Claudia Gadelha via unanimous decision (30-25, 30-26, 30-27)
• “Maestro” Dong Hyun Kim def. Takanori Gomi via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 1:30
• Gokhan Saki def. Henrique da Silva via knockout (punch) – Round 1, 4:45
• Teruto Ishihara def. Rolando Dy via unanimous decision (28-27, 28-27, 29-27)
• Jussier Formiga def. Ulka Sasaki via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 4:30
• Keita Nakamura def. Alex Morono via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Syrui Kondo def. Chan-Mi Jeon via split decision (28-29, 30-27, 30-27)
• Shinsho Anzai def. Luke Jumeau via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
• Daichi Abe def. Hyun Gyu Lim via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 117, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

(MMAjunkie’s Ken Hathaway contributed to this report on site in Japan.)