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Claudia Gadelha does not feel comfortable about Jessica Andrade fighting in the UFC’s strawweight division.
Since losing to Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 211 in May 2017, Jessica Andrade put on a streak that led her to her second title shot against then-champion Rose Namajunas. The Brazilian strawweight achieved success this time, winning via a slam that knocked “Thug Rose” out, earning her the coveted 115-pound strap at UFC 237.
Andrade showed impressive strength and technique to seal her victory against Namajunas, but for other strawweight fighters like Claudia Gadelha, the fight was somewhat of a mismatch.
“That was hard to watch,” Gadelha told Helen Yee (transcript via MMA News). “I just don’t think it’s fair for Jessica to be fighting in the strawweight division. She’s just so much stronger than all the girls in there.
“And I feel sorry for what happened with Rose. She got this close to death. And it was bad. It was hard to watch.”
Andrade’s slam KO win was debated by many, with some questioning its legality. While it was already established that it was a legal move, Gadelha still wants the win to be overturned to a No Contest.
“It should be a No Contest. This is not a move,” she said. “This is not something you learn in martial arts. This is not something that you train every day in the gym.
“It’s just some brutal move, some survival brutal move that anybody could do. And with the power and the strength that Jessica has, that made that damage to Rose, which is pretty bad.”
Andrade is set for her maiden title defense against Weili Zhang at the UFC’s debut event in Shenzhen, China on August 31st.