Top 10 most important UFC women’s main events
By Drake Riggs
3. Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs Claudia Gadelha – The Ultimate Fighter Finale 23, 2016
Very few rivalries have gotten quite as heated as the one between longtime strawweight queen, Joanna Jedrzejczyk and perennial top contender, Claudia Gadelha.
After and prior to the UFC’s creation of the 115-pound weight class, Gadelha was considered one of the best if not the best in the world in the division and was who most expected to be Esparza’s first title defense.
Gadelha was one half of the first-ever UFC strawweight bout when she took on Tina Lahdemaki at UFC Fight Night 45. An undefeated 12-0 at this point, she would next face a fellow undefeated fighter in the former Muay Thai world champion, Joanna Jedrzejczyk.
Jedrzejczyk had one UFC fight prior to the first Gadelha fight as well and the two would go into their fight knowing that a shot at the champion was on the line.
The two went back and forth in a very closely contested contest that saw Gadelha winning all grappling exchanges with Joanna edging out the striking.
It was a fantastic fight for the beginning of a new division. As it went the distance, who won which rounds were clear. Jedrzejczyk the first and Gadelha the third with the second being practically a coin flip. But the judges would see it in favor of Jedrzejczyk for a split decision win moving her forward to compete for the new title.
Going into UFC 185 as the co-main event, Esparza was the clear favorite with her wrestling background after seeing how Gadelha was able to take Jedrzejczyk down and control her. What would transpire was nothing like what anyone was expecting.
Jedrzejczyk had zero issues handling Esparza’s wrestling and defended a whopping 16 of Esparza’s 17 takedown attempts with only allowing her to land four strikes…and that’s all in two rounds.
Jedrzejczyk picked her apart with ease and really made it look like the roles were reversed. We had never seen a champion outclassed by the challenger the way that Esparza was that night and the reign that would follow wound up being one of the best ever.
Solidifying herself as one of the very best strikers there is, Jedrzejczyk amassed two impressive and dominant defenses before finally having to face Gadelha once again.
The two would coach opposite each other on season 23 of The Ultimate Fighter where we see saw things get toxic at times and apparently, there were instances that we didn’t see as Dana White and the cast claimed that a scuffle broke out towards the end of the season.
With the bad blood boiled over, it was time to settle things. The cage door closed, the fight started and within a matter of seconds Jedrzejczyk gets dropped with a jab and Gadelha sticks to her like glue. The majority of the rest of the round would see Gadelha controlling Jedrzejczyk on the ground and in the clinch.
The second round would be more of the same and it looked like the champion may be in for a long night. But once the third had rolled around the challenger began to fade and Jedrzejczyk started to take over and be able to defend the takedowns better and better. Going into the championship rounds, Jedrzejczyk showed why she was the champion as she struck Gadelha at will and didn’t even seem to tire.
When it was all said and done, the champion, Jedrzejczyk would retain after overcoming the most adversity she had ever been into that point. One of the greatest female title fights and rivalries had ended and a star continued to shine.