Jedrzejczyk vs. Gadelha Results: Winner and Reaction from the TUF23 Finale

Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Claudia Gadelha are two sides of the same coin. The UFC's yin and yang. MMA's Batman and Joker. They're the clear-cut No. 1 and No. 2 in their division, and only one can stop the other.

That made their fight at the finale of The Ultimate Fighter Season 23 on Friday rather interesting.

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Jedrzejczyk has looked nearly unstoppable in her UFC career. She took a decisive win over Juliana Lima on her debut, took the strawweight title by smashing Carla Esparza at UFC 185 and has defended her title twice in impressive fashion against Jessica Penne and Valerie Letourneau.

Her striking is almost beyond compare. Her frame is too long to contend with, and her sprawl-and-brawl style is perfectly suited to dominate the division. And she has demolished nearly every opponent she has faced.

The exception to all that is Gadelha. The two faced off in 2014, with Jedrzejczyk getting the win in a hotly contested split decision that showed Gadelha to be every bit Jedrzejczyk's equal and the greatest threat to the Pole's throne. She had both the physical tools and the overall skill set to defeat Jedrzejczyk, and that made for an intense, entertaining rematch.

Friday's first round started with a bang, with Gadelha nailing the champion with a straight right hand and knocking her down. While Gadelha didn't attempt any ground-and-pound, she turned that into 90 seconds of dominant position. Jedrzejczyk recovered quickly and got back to range, but she struggled to deal with Gadelha's excellent clinch work and upper-body takedowns.

The second round began where the first ended, with Gadelha getting the better of Jedrzejczyk in the clinch. While the challenger did little damage in the opening frame, she started landing hard shots on the ground and in the pocket in the second. Jedrzejczyk managed to get some offense in during the final minute, but she found herself definitively down on the scorecards.

Jedrzejczyk came out working her hands at the start of the third, but Gadelha managed to land hard shots of her own and turned that into more clinch work. After a few scrambles, however, the Brazilian had seemingly emptied her gas tank and began breathing with her mouth agape. She still mustered the energy to get some grappling in, but Jedrzejczyk was clearly the fresher fighter in the second half of the round. 

At the start of the fourth, the champion knew she had the edge in conditioning, and she began pressing the action with jabs and bodywork. Gadelha put on a good facade of invincibility, but the round largely saw her plod forward into Jedrzejczyk's hands, which eventually gave way to standing in place as Jedrzejczyk landed uncontested combinations.

"

I see a lot of Jon Jones in Joanna Jedrzejczyk's standup game. Elite fighter.

— Jonathan Snowden (@JESnowden) July 9, 2016"

By the fifth, Jedrzejczyk was in total control. Gadelha continued to move forward, but her arms were too heavy to land counters, and her legs were too slow to turn things into a grappling match again. The Pole continued to keep the pressure high and nailed her with strikes, bloodying the challenger up by the final horn. 

The fight reached the judges with the outcome unclear. Gadelha decisively won the first two rounds and Jedrzejczyk the last two, with the third being competitive. Ultimately, however, all three judges broke in the champion's favor, with the scorecards reading 48-46, 48-46 and 48-45.

It was an amazing, gutsy performance by the champ, one that gives her a clear path to a lengthy reign. While there are interesting potential opponents such as Rose Namajunas and Joanne Calderwood, it's hard to imagine either being able to outmuscle Jedrzejczyk in the clinch or outland her at range.

While the strawweight division is deep enough there will always be someone waiting in the wings to challenge her, the slate of contenders just doesn't seem to have anyone with the tools to pull off a coup.

Gadelha, meanwhile, showed that she remains Jedrzejczyk's greatest challenger and the second-best fighter at 115 pounds. Unfortunately, it is incredibly unlikely she will get another title shot without Jedrzejczyk first being defeated.

That, unfortunately, may take a long while.