Claudio Gadelha threw a punch at her opponent Joanna Jedrzejczyk after the bell on Saturday night at UFC On FOX 13, but it appears that she will escape punishment for the incident.
Some observers tried to liken the incident to a post-fight punch from Paul Daley against Josh Koscheck a few years ago that saw him banished from the UFC for life, but in the aftermath of this weekend’s event UFC President Dana White sought to play down Gadelha’s incident.
“People were going crazy on that one,” White said of the punch at the UFC On FOX 13 post-fight press conference. “‘She hit her after the bell, she did this, she did that.’ And then of course everybody goes back to Daley. ‘You kicked Daley out for that.’ The difference is this: when Daley did it to Koscheck, I was in there, and I went up to Daley because he was getting pulled around, and he didn’t care. He didn’t give a s**t. He looked right at me and said he didn’t care.”
Meanwhile, the Arizona Boxing and MMA commission also appear to be willing to turn a blind eye to Gadelha’s indiscretion.
“(Jedrzejczyk) wasn’t hurt by anything (Gadelha) did,” Arizona Boxing And MMA Commission executive director Matthew Valenzuela told MMAJunkie yesterday. “She won the fight. It was still wrong, but at the same time, there was nothing stated to myself that came back from the UFC.”
“As soon as [Gadelha] did it to [Jedrzejczyk], she reached her hand out and she apologized to her. She said ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry.’ She apologized.”
Meanwhile, Gadelha is believed to be set to file an appeal after coming out on the wrong end of the split decision ruling to Jedrzejczyk on the night, losing a title shot opportunity in the process.
“It’s hard when you lose because your opponent was better but when you are robbed the feeling is awful,” Gadelha’s manager Andre Pederneiras stated on Twitter. “These judges have no idea of what MMA is. In any place of the world, you are punished if make a mistake, why those kind of judges make mistakes and nothing happen? Even knowing how hard it is to a score be changed, Nova Uniao appealed from Gadelha’s loss. The worst thing is to hear that is impossible to a result be changed.It’s the same thing of being robbed and a police department tell you that you have to accept, go home and keep working and wait the next robbery. It’s an affront with serious professionals putting judges that don’t know about the sport. MMA isn’t boxing!”
