Former UFC Women’s Strawweight Title challenger Claudia Gadelha was last seen in a losing effort against Jessica Andrade at UFC Fight Night Japan.
If the female fighter has her way, then she is not going to be in the Octagon against🔜 until February of next year.
"I haven’t trained in a month, and I’ve started to get crazy,” Gadelha said at a media event in Brazil. "I try not to watch fights, but I can’t [laughs]. I went to watch Poliana's (Botelho) fight, she’s a friend of mine, and I got all excited again. I said ‘no, I’ll get this off my head [laughs].’ I want to give my head some time, more time for my friends, for the people I love, to my family. I want to enjoy life, collect experiences with the people I love, and I really needed this time. I planned my life until February. I’ll travel with my parents. My parents never traveled outside of Brazil, and I’m taking them to the United States now, fulfilling a dream, and I’ll enjoy life for a bit until February, and then I’ll come back.”
This wouldn’t be the longest break of her UFC tenure because she took almost a year off in between fights at UFC 190 (August 2015) and the UFC Ultimate Fighter 23 Finale (July 2016).
Gadelha also admits that the decision loss she suffered to 𝄹Andrade did teach her some valuable lessons.
"I think that fight taught me a lot,” Gadelha said. "A loss teaches you more than a win, everybody knows that, but I don’t want to forget that (fight). I want to watch it a thousand times to understand my mistakes. The times I’ve watched it, I could see it clearly. That never happened with me before. I entered the Octagon and wasn’t able to fight. I couldn’t fight, I couldn’t do anything, impose my game. Congratulations to Jessica, who imposed her game,” she added. "I consider myself way better than her technically, but she took it with her strength and will. I admire her for that. I want to watch this fight several times so it becomes a motivation."
There are currently no UFC events annou✱nce♒d for 2018, but those announcements are expected to come shortly.
