Claudia Gadelha has 'no excuses' for UFC-Japan loss, plans for time off

Claudia Gadelha plans to take a hiatus from competition following her first career loss to someone other than unbeaten UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk.

In a clash of top 115-pound contenders, Gadelha (15-3 MMA, 4-3 UFC) was handed a lopsided unanimous decision defeat by Jessica Andrade (17-6 MMA, 8-4 UFC) in Friday’s UFC Fight Night 117 co-headliner, which took place at Saitama Super Arena in Japan and aired on FXX.

The outcome was a damaging blow to Gadelha’s quest for another fight with Jedrzejczyk (14-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC). She’s already fallen short to the Polish titleholder twice, with the most recent being a unanimous decision loss at The Ultimate Fighter 23 Finale in July 2016, but her competitiveness with the champion opened up the possibility for another fight to happen.

Gadelha isn’t out of the running for good, but the loss to Andrade is a setback. Despite that, Gadelha is taking full responsibility for her performance and is not deflecting blame on anyone other than on herself (via Instagram):

No excuses. All merit goes to Jessica. Congratulations on your performance. Now my heart asks me to say something to you guys because I am feeling how much loved I am, how blessed I am, and how much I live the life I asked God for. I'm happy to see real friends and fans in defeat too, and that's priceless. Thank you all for everything! 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. I need time with my parents who are in Brazil loving me in the same way, my entire family as well. I'm going to be Ana Claudia a little more, breathe light things and enjoy the pleasures of life a little bit. With the certainty that Claudinha will come back stronger. Thanks to those who got my back!! Love you all!! ???????????? Sem desculpas. Todo mérito cabe a minha adversária, Parabéns pelo desempenho. Meu coração me pede que eu me manifeste por eu ter sentido agora o quanto sou amada, o quanto sou abençoada e o quanto vivo a vida que pedi a Deus. Fico feliz demais em ver os amigos e fãs de verdade também na derrota, e isso não tem preço. Obrigada a todos por tudo! Quero passar aqui também pra comunicar que vou ficar em off um tempo, foram 3 lutas em 10 meses, 10 meses de muito aprendizado mas também muito cansativos. Eu preciso de tempo com os meus pais que estão lá em Natal me amando do mesmo jeito, assim como minha família toda. E vou nessa ser a Ana Claudia mais um pouco, respirar coisas leves e aproveitar os prazeres da vida um pouquinho. Com a certeza de que a Claudinha voltará mais forte. Obrigada aos que são meus!! Beijos no coração de cada um!! ???????????? #teamclaudia #teamgadelha #TeamCG #lifegoeson

A post shared by CG (@claudiagadelhaufc) on Sep 23, 2017 at 1:23am PDT

No excuses. All merit goes to Jessica. Congratulations on your performance. Now my heart asks me to say something to you guys because I am feeling how much loved I am, how blessed I am, and how much I live the life I asked God for. I’m happy to see real friends and fans in defeat too, and that’s priceless. Thank you all for everything! 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. I need time with my parents who are in Brazil loving me in the same way, my entire family as well. I’m going to be Ana Claudia a little more, breathe light things and enjoy the pleasures of life a little bit. With the certainty that Claudinha will come back stronger. Thanks to those who got my back!! Love you all!!

Since the encounter with Jedrzejczyk, the Brazilian took a unanimous decision over Cortney Casey at UFC Fight Night 100 in November. She followed that up with a quick submission of Karolina Kowalkiewicz at in June, setting up the encounter with Andrade.

Although she had a strong opening round, Andrade’s pace and output were too much for Gadelha to handle as the bout wore on, and the “Fight of the Night” affair ended with scorecards of 30-25, 30-26 and 30-27.

Gadelha vows to return to the drawing board after the defeat and return as a superior version of herself.

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 117, check out the UFC Events section of the site.