Following an unsuccessful title bid in July, Claudia “Claudinha” Gadelha aims to get back into UFC championship contention with a win in her home country on November 19th at UFC Fight Night 100: “Bader vs Nogueira” in São Paulo, Brazil. Gadelha faces Cortney “Cast Iron” Casey on the card.
UFC officials announced the strawweight fight today. Gadelha challenged champ Joanna Jędrzejczyk in a rematch at the TUF 23 Finale, but suffered her second decision loss to the unbeaten Polish star. Casey is coming off of back-to-back first-round stoppage wins in a six-week span this summer.
Gadelha (13-2-0) has long been regarded as one of MMA’s most skilled female grapplers, and the BJJ ace found herself in a UFC title eliminator bout when she faced off against Jędrzejczyk for the first time in late 2014. Jędrzejczyk prevailed via a razor-thin Split Decision, and subsequently went on to capture the UFC Women’s Strawweight Championship, but Gadelha earned a rematch against her bitter rival by cruising to a one-sided decision win over former WSOF champion Jessica “Jag” Aguilar at UFC 190. However, following a stint coaching on TUF 23, Gadelha was defeated by Jędrzejczyk again in July.
Casey (6-3-0) suffered narrow decision defeats in each of her first two UFC bouts this past year, but her spirited performances gained respect and admiration from fans who appeciated her aggressive fighting style. This year has been much kinder to Casey, who began her 2016 campaign with a dominant first-round TKO triumph over Cristina “Barbie” Stanciu at UFC Fight Night 91 in July. Competing again just six weeks later, Casey earned her biggest victory to date and established herself as a strawweight contender by submitting TUF 20 semi-finalist Randa “Quiet Storm” Markos at UFC 202.
UFC Fight Night 100: “Bader vs Nogueira” takes place on November 19th at Ibirapuera Gymnasium in São Paulo, Brazil. The event is headlined by a light heavyweight bout between Ryan “Darth” Bader and Antonio Rogerio “Minotouro” Nogueira.