JOANNA JEDRZEJCZYK SUCCESSFULLY defended the UFC strawweight title for a third time last night but she had to recover from losing the opening two rounds against Brazilian rival Claudia Gadelha before doing so.
After an entertaining five rounds in the main event at The Ultimate Fighter 23 Finale at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Jedrzejczyk took the decision on unanimous scores of 48-46, 48-45, 48-46.
However, the 28-year-old Muay Thai specialist was forced to dig deep to emerge victorious, after Gadelha used her superior grappling to control the action on the ground in the opening couple of frames.
But Jedrzejczyk eventually clicked into gear and, as Gadelha began to fade, the Polish fighter put her elite stand-up skills on display for the remainder of the bout to swing the balance back in her favour and defeat Gadelha for the second time.
This time — unlike their December 2014 bout which had the judges divided — there was no doubting that Jedrzejczyk had done enough, as she settled a feisty feud between the pair that became heated during their recent stint as opposing TUF coaches.
They appeared to bury the hatchet in the immediate aftermath of the bout, with Jedrzejczyk adding in the post-event press conference that she plans to defend the belt once more this year, before a potential move up to flyweight should the rumours of the introduction of a women’s 125lbs division in the UFC come to fruition.
Other notable results on the night included victories for middleweight Andrew Sanchez and strawweight Tatiana Suarez in the finals of their respective TUF 23 brackets.
Elsewhere, ex-Bellator champion Will Brooks was made to work hard to earn a debut UFC win against Ross Pearson via the judges’ scorecards, after Doo Ho Choi had further enhanced his reputation as one to watch courtesy of a first-round knockout of Thiago Tavares.
Veteran former lightweight title contender Gray Maynard headlined the prelims and went the distance with Fernando Bruno in his featherweight debut, before being awarded a unanimous-decision win.
TUF 23 Finale
- Joanna Jędrzejczyk def. Claudia Gadelha via unanimous decision (48-46, 48-45, 48-46)
- Andrew Sanchez def. Khalil Rountree via unanimous decision (30-25, 30-25, 30-26)
- Tatiana Suarez def. Amanda Cooper via submission (D’Arce choke) after 3:43 of round one
- Will Brooks def. Ross Pearson via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Doo Ho Choi def. Thiago Tavares via KO (punches) after 2:42 of round one
- Joaquim Silva def. Andrew Holbrook via KO (punches) after 0:34 of round one
- Gray Maynard def. Fernando Bruno via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Matheus Nicolau def. John Moraga via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- Josh Stansbury def. Cory Hendricks via majority decision (29-27, 29-27, 28-28)
- Cezar Ferreira def. Anthony Smith via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Kevin Lee def. Jake Matthews via TKO (punches) after 4:06 of round one
- Li Jingliang def. Anton Zafir via KO (punches) after 2:46 of round one
