Claudia Gadelha
What was originally thought to be a broken finger is actually a torn ligament for UFC women’s strawweight No. 1 contender Claudia Gadelha, whose title fight will have to wait for her recovery.
Gadelha (13-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) hurt her left hand early in the first round of her UFC 190 bout with Jessica Aguilar (19-5 MMA, 0-1 UFC) earlier this month. The Brazilian battled through the damage to take a dominant unanimous-decision win and to set up an anticipated rematch with reigning 115-pound champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk (10-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC).
Gadelha hoped to book the fight as soon as possible. However, with the extent of the damage to her hand has now known, Gadelha won’t get her crack at UFC gold until at least January.
Joanna Jedrzejczyk
“I partially tore a ligament in my middle finger,” Gadelha told Brazilian news outlet Combate. “The doctor gave me three months to be 100 percent and do anything with that hand. I will spend 20 days with my finger immobilized. I’m already feeling better. I can move it, but I will need three months to punch with this hand again, so I believe the fight could happen in January.”
Gadelha earned one of the most significant victories of her career when she defeated Aguilar to earn the title shot. Gadelha completely shut down the former WSOF titleholder to set up a second showdown with Jedrzejczyk.
The 26-year-old is just one fight removed from a bout with the champ, but she has an argument at being the best in the weight class. She suffered a split-decision loss to the current champion at UFC on FOX 13 in December for the first and only defeat of her career.
The catch, however, is that many believe Gadelha won the fight. Of the 14 media outlets tracked by MMADecisions.com, 12 granted Gadelha the victory. The judges felt differently, though, and Jedrzejczyk had her hand raised and then moved on the capture the UFC title in her next bout.
Gadelha has been vocal about her desire to rematch the dangerous Polish striker. UFC President Dana White confirmed it will happen, but it looks as though Gadelha must get her health in order first.
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