The UFC’s newly signed strawweight Jessica Aguilar will have a tough test in her debut at UFC 190 against Claudia Gadelha in Brazil. Not only will she be the interloper in the situation with the partisan crowd in Rio pulling for Gadelha, but she’ll be going up against the woman whom many thought beat the current champion.
When Gadelha fought 115-pound champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC on FOX 13 last December, the Polish fighter won a narrow -- even controversial -- split decision. Less than three months later Jedrzejczyk dominated TUF 20 and inaugural strawweight champion Carla Esparza to win the belt in Dallas.
With Jedrzejeczyk set to defend the title next week at UFC Fight Night 69 in Berlin against Jessica Penne, Aguilar expects her fight with Gadelha to be for the No. 1 contender spot to face the winner. The erstwhile World Series of Fighting strawweight champ appeared on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour and talked about it.
"I am sure she’s pumped about it, Claudia, and we saw her last fight," Aguilar said. "I mean, in my eyes I think she won the fight. But, I do think that this is a contender fight and I am so pumped and excited about it."
Asked directly if she’s been informed by the UFC that it is definitively a title eliminator, Aguilar said no.
"They have not [told me that], but things can happen," she told Ariel Helwani. "They said it can happen if I go out there and do what I need to do and show my skills and then it might happen. But depending on what happens with Joanna and Jessica in a week, anything can happen and we’ll just go from there.
"But I’m looking at this fight for now, this is my championship fight. I am training like I’m fighting for the title. So, this is the fight I’m looking at right now."
The 33-year old Aguilar, who trains at American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Florida, was a prized free agent pick-up who signed with the UFC last Thursday. She is riding a 10-fight winning streak that spans back to her time with the now defunct Florida-based promotion, G-Force, through Bellator and eventually the WSOF.
Link to full story: Jessica Aguilar on UFC 190 debut against Claudia Gadelha: ‘I do think this is a contender fight’ - MMA Fighting
