Claudia Gadelha suffers knee injury, out of UFC 253 fight against Xionan Yan
Claudia Gadelha will not be getting the chance to fight on the stacked UFC 253 pay-per-view card.
Gadelha was expected to take on the surging contender, Xionan Yan in a very pivotal fight for both women. The winner could put themselves in a great position to earn a title shot, but unfortunately, that will not happen. According to the Brazilian outlet, Combate, Gadelha suffered a knee injury and has withdrawn from the fight.
The Brazilian in Claudia Gadelha is coming off a split decision win over Angela Hill to extend her winning streak to two after beating Randa Markos by decision at UFC 239. Gadelha has had a ton of success inside the Octagon as she is 7-4 and even fought for the strawweight title losing to Joanna Jedrzejczyk by decision.
In her career, Gadelha has notable wins over the likes of Carla Esparza, Cortney Casey, and Karolina Kowalkiewicz. She is currently ranked sixth in the strawweight division.
Xiaonan Yan, meanwhile, is undefeated in the UFC and riding an 11-fight unbeaten streak. In her UFC tenure, she is 5-0 with her last two wins being over Angela Hill and Kowalkiewicz which were massive wins for her. Yet, this one against Gadelha was a chance for the Chinese native to potentially break into the top-five. She is someone many are high on and likely only one or two wins away from a title shot at 115-pounds.
It is currently unknown on whether or not the UFC will keep Yan on the card and find a replacement for Gadelha. Looking at the rankings, perhaps 11th ranked Tecia Torres who is coming off a big win could step up on short notice.
UFC 253 card:
Israel Adesanya vs. Paulo Costa
Dominick Reyes vs. Jan Blachowicz
Hakeem Dawodu vs. Zubaira Tukhugov
Kai Kara-France vs. Brandon Royval
Xiaonan Yan vs. TBD
Ketlen Vieira vs. Marion Reneau
Diego Sanchez vs. Jake Matthews
Brad Riddell vs. Alex da Silva
Nate Landwehr vs. Shane Young
