Big Bad Blog Video Theater-Claudia Gadelha vs Tina Lahdemaki

Here's the match video of Claudia Gadelha vs Tina Lahdemaki from last night's UFC show in Atlantic City. The fight was on UFC Fight Pass so I assume a lot of fans didn't see it. I expected a mismatch as Claudia is a lot more experienced and is a BJJ champ. Both are undefeated but Tina hasn't faced the same level of competition. Most of Claudia's fights have been at 125lb. She cuts a lot of weight to get to 115. This was an issue when her last Invicta fight was canceled because she got sick after weigh ins. And then it was decided that she would skip TUF20 because it would be tough for her to make 115 three times in six weeks. That's why we got the first UFC Strawweight fight. Claudia seems to be much bigger than Tina. I understand she puts on about 20lbs after weigh ins. She uses this size advantage to dominate Tina in round one. But Tina shows good defense and Claudia is unable to finish her. Claudia won the other two rounds as well. I scored the fight 30-27 for Claudia. But like a lot of Brazilian fighters, she doesn't pace herself well and has endurance problems. She's going to have to work on that because there are elite fighters in the UFC Strawweight division who will be able to tire her out especially over five rounds. And as good as Claudia is, that is a major achilles heel. I expect Claudia to get a UFC Strawweight Championship shot against whoever wins TUF20. As for Tina, I don't think good defense is enough for her to hang in the UFC. Maybe she needs to move to the US to get a higher level of training. She needs to raise her game but I don't know if she can do that. In her next fight, I would like to see Claudia face stiffer competition. Enjoy the video!