Multi-time Muay Thai champion Joanna Jędrzejczyk earned the biggest victory of her MMA career tonight at UFC on FOX 13: “Dos Santos vs Miocic” in Phoenix, Arizona. The Polish striker edged out BJJ black belt Claudia “Claudinha” Gadelha in a women’s strawweight title eliminator.
Gadelha controlled significant portions of tonight’s fight on the ground and she threatened with submission attempts from top position, but the standup exchanges went in Jędrzejczyk’s favour. She dropped Gadelha late in round one and did just enough to eke out a hard-fought Split Decision victory.
Jędrzejczyk (8-0-0) and Gadelha (12-1-0) exchanged right hooks in the opening seconds and Gadelha scored a takedown near the cage. She passed to mount and looked to finish the fight quickly with an arm-triangle choke, but Jędrzejczyk escaped and she battled back to her feet. Jędrzejczyk landed short elbows and forearm strikes in the clinch until Gadelha circled away. She dropped Gadelha with a vicious uppercut and unloaded with hammerfists on the ground, but Gadelha survived until the bell.
Gadelha immediately took Jędrzejczyk down in round two and tried to take her back as Jędrzejczyk rose to her feet. Jędrzejczyk escaped from the clinch and mixed up her strikes by targeting Gadelha’s head and liver with punches. She landed more quick flurries and ducked under Gadelha’s counters. Gadelha secured two takedowns late in the round and landed punches from Jędrzejczyk’s guard.
Time was called early in round three after Gadelha was cut below the left eyebrow by an accidental clash of heads. Action resumed and big punches were exchanged. Gadelha took Jędrzejczyk down twice and she landed knees to the body and punches as Jędrzejczyk regained her footing against the cage. Jędrzejczyk stuffed Gadelha’s late takedown attempts and landed elbows in the clinch. The fight ended with both women throwing punches and Gadelha landed a right hand well after the final bell.
The close bout went to the scorecards and one judge saw it 29-28 for Gadelha. The remaining two both had it 29-28 for Jędrzejczyk, who is expected to move on to challenge newly-crowned UFC Women’s Strawweight Champion Carla “Cookie Monster” Esparza next year. Should the bout materialise, the Gadelha-Jędrzejczyk title tilt will determine the sport’s number one female strawweight.
Winner: Joanna Jędrzejczyk by Split Decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29) after three rounds. She improves to 8-0-0.
(Photo Credit: UFC)
I freakin hate Gadelha…Let the Pole Roll!!! And give Randa Markos a title shot!!
Carla is a straight up maniac. I don’t think anyone can beat her. Perfectly timed takedowns. G&P like no other!!! I was a doubter…now I am onboard the Carla hype train!!!
I thought CG had wallowed enough to come out with a Decision but the knockdown likely gave JJ the 1st round and the way late punch of anger and frustration likely gave JJ the 3rd round. In between CG headbutted JJ and got a bad cut herself. All the blood made the fight seem a lot closer than the actual scores might have shown.
Chief Don – I think you finally solved the Joanna Jędrzejczyk puzzle for the rest of us. From now on she’ll just be JJ! whew.
This decision was really a classic strike-scoring vs. control-scoring. JJ won the former, Claudia the latter. I tend to score for aggressive strikers more than ground controllers, so I thought the decision was close but fair.
Dana White is a big fan of JJ’s, so it’s entirely possible we’ll be seeing Carla vs. JJ for the title sometime in the Spring. Probably a free TV main event or a co-main on a PPV. Question is whether JJ can be more effective than Rose was at neutralizing Esparza’s many strengths. Should be a great fight.
IMO, there is no way Joanna won that fight. She had ONE big moment in the fight, and in the final 15 seconds of the first round. The rest of the fight was Gadelha controlling the fight.
Yes, Joanna’s striking was superior, but not by a significant margin. In fact, at times, they were pretty close. So Claudia’s clinch control and takedowns were enough for her to win all three rounds, IMO. I could give round 1 to Joanna, but even that one was “iffy”…
Just my two cents.
I wish CG would have got the nod…I really do because as many times as she has backed down from Esparza she deserved to get her ass kicked by Carla. If you watch her takedown timing you see why Carla is the best. It is going to take a fighter with great balance and extremely strong legs like Tecia Torres to even come close to dethroning Carla. Her boxing technique and power have improved by leaps and bounds since Invicta days. She is the perfect package. This is what I see now…and I used to be a detractor but CE has forever changed my mind.
I hear you Mike. Looking back, Torres and Penne actually hung in there pretty good with Carla and though they lost, they weren’t outclassed by any means. But yes, there’s no doubt that Carla is the clear and rightful champion and I hope she is able to capitalize and make an excellent living for herself.
A little off topic, but have you guys heard about the class action lawsuit being filed against the UFC by a number of fighters currently under contract to the UFC? Apparently the claim is that the UFC is effectively a monopoly and the insider thinking is that the Reebok deal was the last straw with many fighters losing sponsorship deals as a result. If true, this could mean some very bleak days ahead for the UFC and the fighters. Maybe some good will come of it, but some say it was just a matter of time before something like this erupted.
I know Andy…I read the article but do not understand much about what is going on. I know Reebok has 70 million to distribute to all the fighters based on ranking but I don’t know if that is 70 mil a year or what…guaranteed sponsorship money. It all sounds good but I don’t know….maybe we will get a little clarity on both issues with time. I do wonder what group of fighters is behind the lawsuit. I heard Tim Kennedy is leading the charge. Wirh time we will all become informed.
And again off topic…what did you guys think of the comment Meisha made to TMZ…they provoked the response and niw it is everywhere on the internet. Ronda is funky…she stinks like a pig…and not only when she has been rolling for an hour in the gym. Meisha claimed she reeks dressed to the hilt during press tours! God…that has to be embarassing. I read on a UG blog that Stallone’s wife could not bear to be next to her when filming Expendables III and had to be reigned in by her husband when she threatened to personally confront Ronda. On the same blog someone mentioned Statham had made a comment about how taxing it was working with Ronda because of her smell. I thought it was all bullshit perpetrated by haters until I saw the TMZ video. Some girls must have excessively high testosterone levels, I guess…
Although I thought JJ lost I still think she has what it takes to beat Carla. Rose was too impatient & was believing in her own hype. JJ has very good takedown defense & elite striking she will definitely be a handful for Carla. Its so many great match ups the ufc can make hopefully they give this ladies some fights because a lot of the BW’s have only fought once this year & some of them hasn’t fought at all.
Ronda’s shoulders and neck muscles always made me think she was on ‘roids. If you ask on any bodybuilding site, experts will say she is on something.
If she doesn’t smell like a girl… well…
There is alot to be said for good genetics. I played college football with guys who never touched a weight in their lives that were built like an adonis when they were but 15 years old. I saw the pictures. They were perfect physical specimens. I, on the other hand, had to spend hours a day training just to get half as strong…half as built. I don’t think Ronda has ever touched a PED. She has been random tested by the best since she reached puberty and the testing methods nowadays are becoming so advanced that no one can mask usage any longer.
i am one of these very strong types. In fact, I am a vegetarian for 17 years, and I am bigger and stronger than many guys on PED’s. And I never ever had steroids in my life, and I am often accused of doing them. Even my physician asked me if I did, as he said It’s very hard to attain my build with just exercises.
That said, I find it weird that Marina Shafir’s body has been changing so drastically, and, all of a sudden, she’s full,of acne.
Ronda seems to have a double standard on the subject, as she is not critical when any of her friends get caught. As an Olympian, she knows better than anyone how to cheat and not get caught.
So, yes, I find it suspicious, and I don’t believe she is as clean as she claims… The odor issue just reinforces that she might be on something.
Rafael….I understand your point but I just don’t see the evidence. Ronda holds fat…not just water. She is by no means ripped like Tecia Torres (who has been tested repeatedly because if steroid insinuations) A womans body and endocrine system will change drastically when put to the extremes of MMA training. They become amenoreic (lose their period). They are affected by testosterone and/or synthetic testosterone therapy in a more drastic way than men. This is why Ronda has always been so down on Cyborg. Men want to become more manlike by taking hormone therapy. Women want to become more manlike by doing the same. I honestly don’t see the change in Marina’s musculature but the acne is apparent and I attribute that to overtraining, loss of critical body fat, and amenorea.
Good point though!
My sister….at 14 years of age developed an acne problem that was so bad on her face and back that she had to be put on synthetic estrogen and eventually have plastic surgery. Many lifestyle changes, and of course puberty, can affect pituitary function, the result being a whacked out endocrine system. Everyone is different and not all are affected by the same changes.
Great dialog and conversation guys. Very interesting stuff. Mike, Rafael – honestly your backgrounds and opinions are as interesting as some of the WMMA topics! I have to keep checking back in the older comments just to make sure I don’t miss anything good. More and more I find WMMA fans are the best MMA fans in general.
Just watched the gadelha-JJ fight and, in my humble opinion, Carla would beat them both. She has better cardio than both…she can strike wirh JJ…and she is better on the ground than gadelha…I was never a Esparza fan until I saw her fight Penne then Rose. Showtime Pettis thought Penne had better skills than any girl on the show including Rose. Carla has forever made me a believer…that is until she loses…but isn’t that the way it is supposed to be???
Neither Gadelha or JJ impressed me. JJ has mad boxing skills but that is it. Gadelha is overrated. She takes people down and does nothing. When Carla gets you to the ground she never stops swinging…G & P…all the way