Claudia Gadelha says it’s unfair for Jessica Andrade to fight at strawweight

Jessica Andrade is now the queen of the 115-pound UFC strawweight division, but she previously competed in the 135-pound bantamweight division. Despite fighting 20-pounds lighter than she used to, Andrade still seems to possess all the strength of a bantamweight.

Claudia Gadelha has felt that strength first hand, having lost a decision to Andrade in 2017.

Speaking to Helen Yee recently, Gadelha shared her thoughts on Andrade’s absurd power. She believes Andrade is actually too strong for the strawweight division, and that her unfair power advantage was on full display when she knocked out Rose Namajunas with a slam earlier this year.

“That was hard to watch,” Gadelha said of Andrade’s win over Namajunas (h/t MMA News).  “I just don’t think it’s fair for Jessica to be fighting in the strawweight division. She’s just so much stronger than all the girls in there. And I feel sorry for what happened with Rose. She got this close to death. And it was bad. It was hard to watch.”

In fact, Gadelha doesn’t even believe Jessica Andrade deserved the victory over Namajunas.

“It should be a no contest,” Gadelha said. “This is not a move. This is not something you learn in martial arts. This is not something that you train every day in the gym. It’s just some brutal move, some survival brutal move that anybody could do. And with the power and the strength that Jessica has, that made that damage to Rose, which is pretty bad.”

What do you think of Gadelha’s comments on Jessica Andrade?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 7/22/2019.