Claudia Gadelha on Joanna Jedrzejcyzk not being UFC Champion: “It feels good, she’s a bad person”
Joanna Jedrzejcyzk will forever be revered as one of the best women’s strawweights in the world and possibly the greatest UFC women’s strawweight champion in the company’s history as evidenced by her dominance during her reign.
However, her attitude as a competitor in the eyes of her peers is whole different story. While on top of the UFC strawweight division Jedrzejcyzk was known for physically, mentally, and verbally intimidating her opponents, proceeding so much as to put her fist directly in their faces at times during live weigh ins.
And who will ever forget her memorable verbal assault on Rose Namajunas leading up to their first championship bout.
Most UFC fans revel in these tactics for the simple fact that it stimulates their excitement level to get them even more anticipated come the day of the fight. But if you ask former Jedrzejcyzk foes, particularly former title contender Claudia Gadelha, it’s not all fun and games, but more so a reflection of who the former strawweight champion truly is outside the octagon.
It’s kinda hard to argue her assessment, after all, she did spend some time around Jedrzejcyzk when coaching alongside her on a season of the The Ultimate Fighter.
And we all know, if there’s one platform that showcases how a fighters true personality is, it’s the UFC’s popular reality show.
It was there that Gadelha saw up-close and personal how Joanna Jedrzejcyzk carried herself outside of the UFC octagon, and it is from that whole experience why she can definitely attest to the often egotistical nature she has.
Gadelha expressed her joy in knowing Jedrzejcyzk’s no longer holding the UFC Women’s Strawweight Championship when speaking to Ariel Helwani this week at the UFC 225 Media Scrum, her reason? quite simply what she found out on that one specific season of The Ultimate Fighter, her attitude.
“I AM [HAPPY THAT JOANNA JEDRZEJCZYK IS NO LONGER CHAMPION]. SHE’S NOT A GOOD PERSON. I RESPECT JOANNA AS AN ATHLETE, AS A FIGHTER BUT I DON’T RESPECT HER AS A PERSON. I DON’T THINK SHE’S A GOOD PERSON. SHE DIDN’T DO A GOOD JOB BEING A CHAMPION WHICH ROSE [NAMAJUNAS] DOES. ROSE IS A GREAT CHAMPION AND I LOVE SEEING HER OVER THERE, I LOVE SEEING HER ACT AS THE CHAMPION. I FEEL GOOD ABOUT JOANNA NOT BEING CHAMPION.
THE WAY SHE ACTS, YOU KNOW. SHE IS VERY COCKY, SHE DON’T RESPECT PEOPLE. IN THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER, I DON’T KNOW IF SHE WAS ACTING BUT SHE DID DISRESPECT MY COACHES AND ME EVERY DAY.
I HANG OUT WITH HER FOR LIKE EIGHT WEEKS AND I KNOW A LOT ABOUT HER.”
As it is also well documented, the disdain Gadelha has for Joanna is not just all of a sudden, if you recall, during their championship rivarly, there was genuine bad blood between the two.
With both woman on different paths in their careers lately, it’s likely a long while before they’ll cross each others paths in the UFC, then again, who’s to say they won’t fight for a third time?
Would you want to see Joanna Jedrzejczyk face Claudia Gadelha in a trilogy in the future?
