A recurring lesson in the UFC has been the importance of contracts. No word or verbal agreement is ever set in stone.
As flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson said at the UFC 191 media phone conference (warning: NSFW language) on Thursday, “Nobody is entitled to s–t” in MMA. You get the call when you get the call.
A phone call was the least of Claudia Gadelha’s worries. After a dominant win over Jessica Aguilar at UFC 190, the top women’s strawweight contender fully expected to be the next in line for a shot at reigning UFC champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk.
The bout was rumored to serve as the co-main event at UFC 195, a January pay-per-view card that initially featured the women’s bantamweight title fight between Ronda Rousey and Holly Holm.
However, those plans changed after it was announced that welterweight champion Robbie Lawler had suffered an injury that would force him out of his title fight with Carlos Condit in the UFC 193 headliner.
According to Yahoo Sports’ Kevin Iole, the UFC considered filling the vacant main event spot with a strawweight title fight between Jedrzejczyk and Valerie Letourneau.
When speaking with MMAFighting.com, Gadelha claimed it was the first she’d heard of the news:
Joanna said she would be ready to fight me by December or January because of her injury, but she’s ready to fight someone else earlier. I said I’d be ready by December or January because she was also injured, but if Dana White wants to give her another fight, do it. Put another one in front of me and I will run through her. This fight will happen, but this is really disrespectful.
Jedrzejczyk is still on the mend after breaking her thumb in a lopsided drubbing of Jessica Penne in June. Early indications gave every reason to believe Gadelha would get the next title shot. Even White sent out this tweet after Gadelha’s win over Aguilar.
With Rousey vs. Holm now serving as the UFC 193 headliner, Jedrzejczyk’s next title defense remains rumored for UFC 195.
An official opponent has not yet been named.
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