Gadelha entered the fight as the No. 1 contender in the UFC strawweight division. That is sure to change following a unanimous decision loss in which she started strong, but was eventually overwhelmed by Andrade. By the end of three rounds, the scorecards were heavily in Andrade’s favor showing scores of 30-26, 30-25, and 30-27.
In addition to Andrade on Friday, Gadelha has only ever lost to current UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk, who next steps into the Octagon opposite Rose Namajunas at UFC 217 in November. Having lost twice to the champion, however, coupled with the recent loss to Andrade puts Gadelha far back in the queue when it comes to getting another shot at the belt if it doesn’t leave Jedrzejczyk’s waist.
Knowing this and following a fairly busy year, Gadelha needs a little time to regroup. No, she didn’t utter the word retirement, but the 28-year-old is feeling the effects of having fought at a high level for a long time and needs to regain some semblance of normalcy.
After making no excuses for the loss to Andrade and thanking her fans for their support, Gadelha wrote on Instagram that she is going to take a break.
“I want to come here also to communicate that I will take some time off. I just went through 3 fights in 10 months, 10 months of much learning, but also very tiring,” she said.
This article first appeared at News – MMAWeekly.com
