White: Joanna Jedrzejczyk likely gets first crack at Esparza's new UFC strawweight belt

PHOENIX – After Carla Esparza became the first women’s strawweight champion in UFC history on Friday night, Dana White admitted much was riding on a key 115-pound fight on Saturday’s card.

White said after Esparza beat Rose Namajunas at the TUF 20 Finale in Las Vegas that a win for Claudia Gadelha at UFC on FOX 13 over Joanna Jedrzejczyk likely would get Gadelha the first crack at Esparza’s new belt.

There was just one problem. Jedrzejczyk had a little something to say about that. In a close fight that had some contentious scoring, at least with how fans seemed to react, Jedrzejczyk (8-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) upset Gadelha (12-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) on Saturday at U.S. Airways Center in Phoenix.

The split decision kept Jedrzejczyk unbeaten and handed Gadelha her first loss. But more importantly for the Polish fighter, it appears she not only kept Gadelha from a title shot, but she took that shot right out of her pocket and put it into her own.

After Jedrzejczyk’s win to close out the prelims, she joined UFC President Dana White at his table cageside for the main card, and at the post-event news conference, White said Jedrzejczyk, now 2-0 in the UFC, likely fights for a title next.

“I love the way this girl fights. I love her striking,” White said. That was one of those fights that, people were asking me if I thought she won. I’ve got no problem with her winning, and if they raised Claudia’s hand, I’d have no problem with it. That’s how close that fight was. It was a super close fight. And yeah, we hung out and watched (the main card) tonight – and yeah, she’s probably going to get the next shot.”

The Jedrzejczyk-Gadelha fight had some bad blood going in. The weigh-in between the two got heated and resulted in the two being separated. And after their fight, there was some extracurricular activity after the final bell.

But there’s little doubt Jedrzejczyk stopped thinking about both incidents after she learned her next fight likely will be for the UFC’s new strawweight strap.

For complete coverage of UFC on FOX 13, check out the UFC Events section of the site.