#2 Joanna Jdrzejczyk vs. Cláudia Gadelha
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The reigning strawweight champion has elevated her pre-fight arsenal with trash talk in her last couple of title defenses. She turned it all up several notches once she was set to face the Brazilian Gadelha again.
Jdrzejczyk and Gadelha had first squared off before the Polish champion ever held the 115-belt and the fight had ended in a controversial result in favour of Jdrzejczyk, despite Gadelha putting her in some very dangerous positions in that fight.
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From there, Gadelha made it her mission to prove that not only did she deserve a shot at the title, but she also deserved a chance at redeeming herself against her former foe. The two prefaced the bout with a season coaching against one another on the Ultimate Fighter 23 where they exchanged heated words and even got in some minor scuffles.
Once it came time for Jdrzejczyk to defend her belt against her rival – despite a few scares in the early rounds – the Pole dug deep and swayed the judge’s scorecards in her favour, successfully defending her belt via unanimous decision.
In the post-fight interview, the champion made a point to tell her opponent how much respect she had for her while the two shared an embrace.
