Cortney Casey fine with being the underdog once more, predicts a 'great night' against Gadelha

SAO PAULO – Cortney Casey knows she wasn’t Claudia Gadelha’s first choice of opponent for Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 100 event.

But she’s fine with it. In fact, considering Gadelha’s (13-2 MMA, 2-2 UFC) standing in the division, Casey (6-3 MMA, 2-2 UFC) can absolutely understand with why the onetime title challenger would prefer fighting higher-ranked opposition at this point.

But she also knows that Gadelha has become sort of an ungrateful matchup for title hopefuls in the 115-pound division. So, when no one else would step up, she did.

“She’s the No. 1 ranked fighter (in the official UFC rankings),” Casey told MMAjunkie. “She wants to fight top-ranked girls, and she should fight top-ranked girls. But also, in that kind of position, no one is calling out (UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk), trying to fight her. If it comes, it comes.

“But definitely everyone would rather fight Joanna than Claudia, because if they lose to Claudia, then that title shot gets further pushed behind. You know, a lot of people are protecting not only their record, but their career as well.

“Our division is really big, and we have a lot of girls on the shelves in between fights. I think you’ve got to take the fights that are given to you, and so far every time (UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby) asked me to fight, I said yes.”

Gadelha and Casey meet on UFC Fight Night 100’s FS1-televised main card, which takes place at at Ibirapuera Gymnasium in Sao Paulo. Early prelims stream on UFC Fight Pass.

Even though she’s about to take on the No. 2 fighter in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA women’s strawweight rankings, the unranked Casey said she doesn’t believe a win will earn her a title shot against Jedrzejczyk, who’s fresh off a gritty title defense at UFC 205.

But she does think it’s going to get her somewhere.

“I really wasn’t thinking about the rankings (when I took the fight),” Casey said. “I was just thinking about the opponent and that opportunity. But I really think with the win over her, I’m definitely thinking it should put me in the top five, for sure.”

In any case, it’s not like she’s particularly worried about those numbers. Casey has made it clear that her priority is putting on exciting performances for the fans, which she thinks has all the potential to happen against the strong and well-rounded Gadelha.

Casey’s 2-2 UFC record, she said, doesn’t reflect much, considering a UFC-debut loss to Joanne Caldwerwood on eight days’ notice and a close unanimous decision defeat to Seo Hee Ham that followed. She’s since recovered with back-to-back wins, including a first-round submission victory overRanda Markos. So the strawweight is OK with coming in as an underdog to Gadelha.

After all, it’s not like she hasn’t been there before.

“I think all my fights I’ve gone into, the pressure has been on the other fighter,” Casey said. “I think I’ve been the underdog on every single fight I’ve taken. But I kind of go in with that kind of attitude. It’s martial arts. Anything can happen.

“Someone could get hit. Everyone gets a puncher’s chance. So I think you just go in there with supreme confidence and believe in what you can do in your training and what you can do, and as long as you do that, I think most of the time it goes in your favor.”

As for how the scrap is going to play out?

“It’s going to be a great fight, and I definitely think it’s going to be a great night for me,” Casey said.

To hear more from the strawweight, check out the video above.

And for more on UFC Fight Night 100, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.