Tuesday, February 01, 2011

Claudia Gadelha to concentrate on Jiu Jitsu

Claudia Gadelha holds trophy won in Dallas tournament
It was announced today that 22 year old MMA fighter Claudia Gadelha has become the youngest Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Black Belt in the history of the famed Nova Uniao dojo. Claudia recently returned from a three month stay at Nova Uniao in Dallas to clarify her future plans. Claudia's pro MMA record is 6-0 but she hasn't been active recently and has concentrated on jiu jitsu tournaments. While in Dallas, she won a tournament and you can see her holding the trophy in the accompanying pic. But she didn't try to get any pro fights. I thought that was interesting because that's the first thing most foreign fighters do when they come to the US for a brief stay. Then she told Tatame Magazine "Of course I want to go to Strikeforce" almost like they wanted a quote for the headline. But Claudia is a 125lb fighter and Strikeforce doesn't have a 125lb division. And though Scott Coker has said that he wants a 125lb division, I don't see him doing that in the near future. He has too many female fighters sitting around doing nothing now. Claudia said that because there is no 125lb weight division in Strikeforce, she plans to focus on jiu jitsu and participate in all the tournaments in 2011. If Strikeforce does start a 125lb division, she will look at pro MMA again. But she has no pro fights planned for this year. Her goal now is to get to the top of the jiu jitsu pile and win as many tournaments as possible. Could Claudia fight at 135? Not if she or Nova Uniao doesn't want her to. I think she is undersized for 135. We may see her in pro MMA again but you never know.

No comments:

Post a Comment