A crazy match at strawweight.
On Wednesday the UFC announced a Strawweight matchup between Claudia Gadelha and Carla Esparza set for UFC 225 June 9 in Chicago, Illinois.
The two women have long long and heated rivalry, dating back to 2013 when they were set to for the Invicta FC strawweight title. After the pre-fight buildup, Claudia suffered an injury and was replaced. Then again she was medically unfit to compete in the scheduled rematch. Eventually, both women made their way to the UFC, and have been trading words ever since.
Gadelha, 29, (15-3), is coming off a stunning loss to Jessica Andrade last year, while Esparza (13-4), is riding high off of a win that derailed the hype of new UFC golden girl Cynthia Calvillo.
This matchup is a hard one to predict. Esparza showed some straits with her rear hand in her last outing, and Gadelha is certainly a strong puncher, but neither woman has an especially refined weapon on the feet. Mostly they use striking in conjunction with takedowns to secure rounds. Esparza is a folkstyle wrestler- very proficient at scrambling and finding dominant position on the ground. Gadelha, by contrast, has a jiu jitsu based style of control, which she uses to land damage and occasionally look to submit.
The real decisive factor this matchup will likely be their comparative psychologies. Gadelha is coming off a thorough beating, and is now facing a long road back to the title. Esparza lost the title some time ago, but has truly found her own as a contender and seemed comfortable in the unsung role of spoiler in her last fight against Calvillo. It will be up to Gadelha to enter the fight with a strong mentality and impose her superior athleticism on Esparza.
This is the first fight announced for UFC 225, which will take place at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois.
For more news and updates, follow Generation Iron on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.