History will be made once again on July 16th when the Ultimate Fighting Championship stages its inaugural women’s strawweight bout at UFC Fight Night 45: “Cerrone vs Miller” in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Undefeated BJJ black belt Claudia “Claudinha” Gadelha faces Tina “Jelly Bean” Lähdemäki.
FoxSports.com first reported on the 115-pound matchup on Wednesday. Gadelha was twice scheduled to compete for the Invicta FC Strawweight Championship, but injuries and illness forced her out of both planned bouts. Lähdemäki, also unbeaten, has finished three of her five pro opponents.
Gadelha (11-0-0) is one of the most decorated female grapplers in MMA today. The multi-time BJJ world champion has earned eight stoppage victories during her pro career including six by way of submission. In her lone Invicta FC bout that proceeded as planned, Gadelha earned a dominant third-round TKO win over former Jewels champion Ayaka Hamasaki. An illness forced her out of an Invicta FC title fight with Carla “Cookie Monster” Esparza in December, but Gadelha will look to continue her climb towards the top of the 115-pound women’s division with a win in her UFC debut.
Lähdemäki (5-0-0) has thus far dominated her opponents in Europe. The Finnish standout picked up her biggest victory to date in November when she choked out Spanish contender Karla Benitez with a first-round arm-triangle choke. The win was her second submission finish in a row. In April, Lähdemäki took part in an amateur bout against prospect Suvi Salmimies, whom Lähdemäki stopped with punches in the first round. She now brings an unblemished record into her strawweight debut for the UFC and aims to make an instant impact by upsetting Gadelha next month.
UFC Fight Night 45: “Cerrone vs Miller” takes place on July 16th at Revel Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The event is headlined by a lightweight bout between Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone and Jim Miller and also includes a women’s bantamweight battle between Leslie “The Peacemaker” Smith and Jessamyn “The Gun” Duke.
There’s a reason the UFC is placing Gadelha in their first 115lb division WMMA fight, well before the all-women 115lb TUF Season 20. This is a showcase fight, with two undefeated 115lb women — with Gadelha, who is almost certainly the best, most devastating 115lb-er in the world. The UFC chose Gadelha for this fight, just as they chose Rousey for the first ever women’s UFC. This will be a hell of a fight and a hell of a show. Everyone will know about the UFC’s new division after this fight.
Gadelha is a beast. I wonder whether this casts out the possibility of her being the winner of the season…? Has it been shot…?
Ah… I remember. She opted out, because she couldn’t cut weight so many times under a short span of time…
She isn’t a beast until she beats Carla Esparza.