Claudia Gadelha will be going under the knife.
On June 9, Gadelha took on Carla Esparza. The bout was featured on the preliminary portion of UFC 225. The action took place inside the United Center in Chicago, Illinois.
Gadelha ended up winning the bout via split decision. She has now gone 3-1 in her last four outings. While the third ranked UFC women’s strawweight would like to capitalize on her momentum, she is dealing with a knee injury that requires surgery. Gadelha suffered the injury ahead of her UFC 225 bout.
During an interview with MMAFighting.com, Gadelha explained why she didn’t pull out of her fight with Esparza:
“I badly injured my knee, everyone at the UFC (Performance) Institute knows that because I was treated by the institute’s physiotherapist. (The physiotherapist) was the only reason I didn’t pull out of the fight. She said ‘I’ll take care of you.’ I kept visiting the physiotherapist during fight week to be able to fight. I felt the knee in the first round, could barely stand, and still beat Carla in her game, wrestling, so I think she’s just mad she couldn’t outwrestle me.”
She then took to Twitter to reveal that she will indeed need surgery:
Knee surgery will be next week. Thank you for the real and loved ones!!
— Claudia Gadelha (@ClaudiaGadelha_) June 14, 2018
Gadelha’s win over Esparza was a bounce back victory. In the bout prior, she dropped a unanimous decision to Jessica Andrade. Many were surprised that Gadelha lost by such a wide margin. She has only lost to Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Andrade in her professional mixed martial arts career.
It’ll be interesting to see what unfolds while Gadelha recovers from surgery. Karolina Kowalkiewicz and Andrade are the favorites to receive the next title opportunity against Rose Namajunas. Depending on how everything shakes out, Gadelha may get another crack at UFC gold upon her return
Do you think Claudia Gadelha will compete for a UFC title again?
