Claudia Gadelha Opens Up About Leaving Nova Uniao
Claudia Gadelha is coming off of a disappointing loss too current UFC Women’s Strawweight Champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk at the UFC Ultimate Fighter 23 Finale, one that caused her to make changes in her professional MMA career.
This past September, Gadelha left Nova Uniao after a reported argument with head coach Andre Pederneiras, something Gadelha talked about during a recent media day.
"My relationship with ‘Dede’ was always very professional," Gadelha said. "We were never big friends, big partners. And it continues the same way. If I have to deal with anything professional, I will call him or he will call me. Nothing big happened. I was looking for evolution, and evolution is here. Brazil is behind in some things, especially in sport. I want to get better, so I had to come here. But my relationship with ‘Dede’ continues the same, 100 percent professional."
Even though she is no longer a part of Nova Uniao, Gadelha would still like longtime coach Jair Lourenco to be in her corner at UFC Fight Night 100.
"I think there’s still a bond with Nova Uniao because of my partnership with Jair," she said. "He’s someone I want by my side for the rest of my life. I left Nova Uniao, but Nova Uniao won’t leave me. I continue respecting the team. I’m trying to bring him here to watch my training because, if he’s going to corner me, he has to see my training. He doesn’t have much time now, so we’re taking a look at it, but I have to have him (in my corner), yes."
Gadelha will be training at Team Jackson/Winklejohn for her fight against Cortney Casey at UFC Fight Night 100. The camp has been going well for the fighter.
"It was time to take a more relaxed camp, get more rest, to focus on the technical aspect," Gadelha said. "We train a lot in Brazil, we seek evolution, but in a wrong way because we end up overtraining. It’s not even because of lack of information. The Brazilian people suffer so much he wants it so bad, so he trains too much. But sometimes that’s not the right thing. That’s the difference here. They know how to schedule the training, rest more. I can feel the difference in this area."
UFC Fight Night 100 will be taking place on Saturday, November 19th from the Ibirapueroa Gymnasium in Sao Paulo, Brazil with Ryan Bader and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira headlining.
