A woman’s strawweight rematch between current champion Joanna Jędrzejczyk and Claudia Gadelha looks like it’ll have to be put on the shelf until next year as Gadelha has suffered a hand injury.
A torn ligament in one of her fingers has left the Brazilian facing three months on the sidelines which makes it unlikely she’d then be able to get in a training camp and fight before the year is out.
“I partially tore a ligament in my middle finger,” Gadelha told the Combate site. “The doctor gave me three months to be 100% and do anything with that hand. I will spend 20 days with my finger immobilized. I’m already feeling better, I can move it, but I will need three months to punch with this hand again, so I believe the fight could happen in January.”
As it happens Jedrzejczyk is also currently healing up from a thumb injury she sustained during her recent title defense against Jessica Penne which required surgery.
She had hoped to come back before the end of the year, but perhaps she’ll welcome the chance to have extra time to get back to 100% and fully prepare for the rematch.
Jedrzejczyk and Gadelha originally fought in December of last year and it proved to be an extremely closely contested fight which the Polish fighter edged out by split decision.
Since then Jedrzejczyk claimed the strawweight title with a dominant second round stoppage victory against Carla Esparza before a three round destruction of Penne.
A back issue has meant Gadelha hasn’t been quite as active since their first meeting, but she looked in top form earlier this month at UFC 190 as she comfortably outpointed former Bellator and WSOF champion Jessica Aguilar.
