Injured Gadelha Bounced From UFC 253

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Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) strawweight title contender Claudia Gadelha suffered a knee injury and has withdrawn from the upcoming UFC 253 pay-per-view (PPV) event, scheduled for Sat., Sept. 26, 2020 inside Flash Forum on Fight Island in Abu Dhabi.

That’s according to a report from Combate.

The promotion still has a couple of weeks to try to keep opponent Yan Xiaonan on the card. The once-beaten “Fury” is no stranger to late replacements, having gone through a similar ordeal when she was paired off against Felice Herrig at UFC 238 roughly one year back.

As for Gadelha (18-4), the 32 year-old Brazilian already had surgery on her knee in summer 2018, thanks to a blown LCL that nearly cost her the victory against former strawweight champion Carla Esparza — who accused “Claudinha” of greasing — back at UFC 225.

A timeline for Gadelha’s Octagon return is unknown.

To see the rest of the UFC 253: “Adesanya vs. Costa” fight card and PPV lineup click here.