Cláudia Gadelha, in full Ana Cláudia Dantas Gadelha, is a Brazilian mixed martial artist
who currently competes in the Women's Strawweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
She was born on December 7, 1988 in Mossoró, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. Cláudia was chosen
to be a coach on The Ultimate Fighter 23. As of January 2021, she ranked number 7 in
the UFC women's strawweight rankings and number fifteen in UFC women's pound-for-pound rankings.
Gadelha had a tough late childhood and early youth. She grew up in Brazil with her parents
didn't approve when she started training to fight. Gadelha raised her passion for
the sport at the age of 14 as she went to an MMA event in Natal and saw a female fight. At age 18,
Gadelha moved to Rio de Janeiro where she celebrated her successes
in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and debuted in MMA. "The sport was teaching me how I should deal with life.
Today, I am a completely different person, thanks to martial arts" Gadelha has said.
Gadelha and model ring girl Camila Oliveira regularly post selfie together on social
media, and now there are reports the two are in a relationship.
Gadelha made her pro MMA debut on June 5, 2008 at Force Fighting Championship 1 but
didn’t start fighting regularly until 2009. Prior to UFC, Claudia Gadelha was an undefeated fighter
in Invicta FC 6. Plus, she also had an undefeated overall MMA record.
She defeated Ayaka Hamasaki via third round TKO in her Invicta debut match. Later,
she was set to face Carla Esparza for the inaugural Strawweight title.
Unfortunately, Gadelha withdrew her name from the match because of a nose injury.
In December 2013, it was announced that Gadelha was signed by the UFC along with ten other
strawweight fighters to compete on season 20 of The Ultimate Fighter. She made her winning UFC
debut against Tina Lahdemaki in 2014. Gadelha's match against current Strawweight Champion Joanna
Jedrzejczyk was a controversial one. Gadelha went on to kick Joanna even after the horn rang
signaling the end of the third round. Claudia lost the match via spilled-decision. During
her tenure at UFC, she has also won against then WSOF Women’s Strawweight Champion Jessica Aguilar,
Cortney Casey, Karolina Kowalkiewicz, Carla Esparza, Randa Markos and Angela Hill.
Gadelha is one of the furious UFC fighters, nevertheless, she has won several awards. She
has been the BJJ World Champion for three times, and the BJJ Rio International Open Champion for
four times. Similarly, Claudia has been the BJJ Brazilian Nationals Champion for seven times
and has won the Fight of the Night award at UFC for one time. Impressively, Gadelha
enjoys the 1st-degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Andre Paderneiras Jair Lourenco.
As of 2021, Cláudia Gadelha has an estimated net worth of $500,000.
Gadelha previously trained at Nova União with former UFC Featherweight Champion José Aldo.
She is the youngest Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt in Nova União's history.
Gadelha opened her own gym, Claudia Gadelha's MMA & BJJ Academy, in March 2016. It is now
located in Randolph, New Jersey and named CG Ultimate Fitness Academy.