The reports of Claudia Gadelha‘s injury have been greatly exaggerated.
That’s according to the woman herself, who tweeted Sunday that she is not injured and is ready to challenge UFC women’s strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk whenever the champ is ready:
Guys, I’m not injured. I’m taking care of my finger that I hurt in my fight with Aguilar. That’s it. I will be ready when Joanna is ready.
— Claudia Gadelha (@ClaudiaGadelha_) August 30, 2015
The tweet was also reported Sunday by MMA Junkie.
Gadelha‘s tweet is the latest twist in an odd little narrative that is unfolding around this fight.
It all started on August 21, when it was reported that Jedrzejczyk and Gadelha would serve as the co-main event of UFC 195 on Jan. 2, 2016, playing second fiddle to Ronda Rousey‘s title defense against Holly Holm.
However, an injury to welterweight champion Robbie Lawler forced a postponement of his UFC 193 bout with Carlos Condit, scheduled to take place November 15 in Melbourne, Australia. So Rousey-Holm was moved up to fill that new scheduling hole.
It seems UFC matchmakers also wanted to move Gadelha–Jedrzejczyk to UFC 193, but reports over an injury to Gadelha apparently spurred them to look elsewhere, namely to Canadian Valerie Letourneau, as Kevin Iole noted:
@RockyTopD @arielhelwani Per Dana, Claudia is injured and can’t fight or it would have been her.
— Kevin Iole (@KevinI) August 29, 2015
Now, however, it appears Letourneau is still recovering from her recent victory over Maryna Moroz and also will not be ready in time for UFC 193. Shortly thereafter, Gadelha sent her tweet stating that she was good to go (more or less).
That brings you up to speed.
Moving forward, it remains unclear when Jedrzejczyk (10-0) will compete again, though it seems Gadelha (13-1) would make for the most interesting opponent, if all other things are equal. Last December, Jedrzejczyk handed Gadelha her first professional defeat, though it came in a split decision that many believe could have been awarded to Gadelha.
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