I've known about this for a while but last night the UFC officially announced that UFC Strawweight Champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk and her number one challenger Claudia Gadelha will coach The Ultimate Fighter 23. Joanna will defend the title against Claudia at the TUF 23 Finale on July 8. The location for this show has not been announced but it will be in Las Vegas. This is the night before UFC 200. TUF 23 will feature Strawweights and Light Heavyweights. The two hour season premiere will air on Apr. 20 on Fox Sports 1 in the US and on TSN in Canada. The title match is the showdown we have all been waiting for. Joanna and Claudia fought in Dec. 2014. Joanna won by split decision but many in the media including yours truly thought Claudia won though it was very close. Since then, Claudia and her Nova Uniao coach Andre Pederneiras have constantly whined about the decision. I think Claudia needed to be more dominant and she wasn't. One never knows how the judges will score the fight. It's not always going to go your way. So now Claudia gets to avenge that loss. Their mistake may be in treating victory in this match like a foregone conclusion. Joanna has been champ for almost a year now. She's improved since the first fight and you should never discount the resolve of a champ. It should be a very interesting season of The Ultimate Fighter and I can't wait for the title fight.
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