Season 23 of the Ultimate Fighter brought us all the very heated and entertaining rivalry between Women’s Strawweight Champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk and top contender Claudia Gadelha. A lot had been made of their animosity in the buildup to the show and while the back and forth has certainly been amusing throughout, the real spectacle will take place on July 8th when the two lock horns in a 5-round title fight. The first bout between the two was as tight an affair as you can get over 3 rounds, with Joanna edging the split decision. Gadelha’s superb takedowns caused problems for the soon-to-be champ but a decisive knockdown late in the first round more than likely swayed the decision in her favour, winning over two of the three judges. A late punch just after the bell from Gadelha and a refusal to admit the blemish on her otherwise unbeaten record planted the seeds for their turbulent relationship since then. These two women do not like each other and with a possible 25 minutes on the cards this week, I’m hopeful that this match-up does not disappoint.
Claudia Gadelha, for the most part did well against Joanna all things considered. Her clinch work was solid and she used it well to break the rhythm of the aggressive and accurate Jedrzejczyk. Her takedowns came with little problems also, in part due to her own fantastic technique, technique she would continue to display in her next bout against Jessica Aguilar. Considering that the fight against Joanna took place in 2014, Gadelha hasn’t exactly been the most active fighter on the UFC roster in the time since, with the aforementioned Aguilar-fight being her only one since her loss. That being said it did appear that her striking had improved substantially between the two events, with her mixing up solid boxing and powerful takedowns pretty seamlessly. Unfortunately though I do feel she is well beyond the skills of Jedrzejczyk in this regard. She would do well to go in there with the intention of pressuring her in the same way as she did in the last fight, and to try and land a few takedowns and put that BJJ black belt she earned under Andre Pederneiras to some use.
Joanna Jedrzejczyk, or Joanna Champion as she likes to be called is simply a joy to watch in action. The six-time Muay Thai world champion is as fluid and natural with her strikes as anyone we’ve seen compete in MMA at any point. Her beatdown of previous champ Carla Esparza became almost difficult to watch at certain points, with Joanna stuffing sixteen out of the seventeen attempts by the All-American wrestler. You could see as the fight went on the level of comfort Jedrzejczyk feels on her feet, mixing up her punches and kicks with all the grace you’d expect of someone with a resumé as deep as hers. Her elbows were strong and always there to punish Esparza whenever she failed with a takedown. It was a two-round beatdown that felt like it was twice that length. Complete and utter domination. Since then she’s gone on to comprehensive victories against formidable opponents in Jessica Penne and Valérie Letourneau, with her takedown defence coming along in massive strides in both. At 28, Joanna is still relatively young and constantly learning about every aspect of MMA and in those two fights you can see improvement in the areas that nearly cost her in the first Gadelha fight.
So how do I see this fight going? Well a lot will be understood about the dynamics of this fight after the first round. If Gadelha can get Joanna to the floor, then who knows! It will certainly make the risk involved with Joanna’s kicking game seem a lot less attractive to her in the later rounds, given that we’ve seen her grow into fights against wrestlers and gradually introduce her kicks as her comfort levels grow. If Gadelha is stopped by Joanna’s now-excellent takedown defence, then I can’t see this ending well for her. I’m leaning towards Joanna in this one. I feel like we’re witnessing something very special with the champ at 115 pounds and I just can’t see Gadelha being the one to bring Jedrzejczyk’s train to a halt. I’m going to go with a finish for Joanna, perhaps in the 4th round.
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