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Former women's strawweight title challenger Claudia Gadelha recently announced her retirement from the sport. The 33 year-old broke the news on her Instagram where she announced that she was stepping away from MMA.
In her video, Claudia Gadelha talked about the reason for her retirement from MMA. She also attributed the decision to post-concussion syndrome. The Brazilian said:
"In November of 2020, after the fight, I had a really bad concussion and I had post concussion syndrome. Which is the symptoms of concussion for long period of time. I was suffering with the symptoms for a while. It was very frustrating because my headaches were like a knife stabbing the back of my head. I was very nauseous, I was like throwing up and you know, feeling very, very bad. I couldn't even go for a walk, couldn't train it was very frustrating."
Claudia Gadelha also brought up how much she missed her family during this time:
"I found out that without health we are nothing. You know I had to rush to the hospital in the beginning of my concussion, twice. I ended up in the emergency room, twice and you know, so I am here in Las Vegas by myself and my family is in Brazil and this is during COVID so I couldn’t fly to Brazil to go be with my family. Because it was like the beginning of the concussion so I couldn’t fly and my parents couldn’t come here because of COVID. So I had to spend a lot of time by myself during the concussion and that was very frustrating. With that being said, I started thinking about not fighting anymore.”
Watch Claudia Gadelha's full announcement video below:
As revealed in her video, the reason for taking retirement from the sport stems from the fact that she had been suffering from post concussion syndrome. This was the aftermath of her last fight in the UFC against Yan Xiaonan which she lost via a unanimous decision.
Claudia Gadelha's new role at the UFC
Although Claudia Gadelha's time in the UFC as a fighter is over, her journey with the company is set to continue. The former UFC strawweight title contender is set to continue with promotion to help the UFC with new Brazilian talent.
Further details on the same are yet to be revealed by either Claudia Gadelha or the UFC but it will be interesting to see how she helps the company with young talent from her country.
