Claudia Gadelha asked for it and now she’s going to get it.
After beating Jessica Aguilar via unanimous decision at UFC 190 on Saturday night in Rio de Janeiro, Gadelha used UFC president Dana White’s name directly and asked for a rematch against women’s strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk. White implied on Twitter that she’s going to get it and confirmed it later on FOX Sports 1 with Ariel Helwani.
This one will be fun again. @ClaudiaGadelha_ vs @UFC Champ @joannamma pic.twitter.com/n81l940CG9
— Dana White (@danawhite) August 2, 2015
Jedrzejczyk beat Gadelha in a very close split decision last December. Many people, including Gadelha herself, thought Gadelha won the fight. Jedrzejczyk ended up going on to beat Carla Esparza by TKO to win the title. Then, she lumped up Jessica Penne in a TKO victory in June to defend it.
Gadelha (13-1) returned to the Octagon after a back injury against Aguilar and looked as good as ever. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt pummeled Aguilar for three rounds with her boxing. By the second round, Aguilar’s face was a bloody mess. The bout was Aguilar’s UFC debut and she had been ranked one of the best 115-pound women in the world for years. Gadelha and Jedrzejczyk have clearly supplanted her.
“Against a very well-respected opponent, she looked amazing,” White said of Gadelha.
In the first fight, Jedrzejczyk (10-0) dropped Gadelha early, but Gadelha came back and used her superior wrestling and jiu-jitsu to control Jedrzejczyk, who is a high-level Muay Thai fighter.
No date or card was announced for the rematch, but Jedrzejczyk is recovering from surgery to repair a broken thumb. She has said that she won’t be able to return until the end of the year.