Claudia Gadelha Critical of Kennedy Maciel
Claudia Gadelha has been vocal since getting a top position at UFC BJJ. In the post UFC BJJ 2 press conference, Gadelha was specifically critical of the performance of Kennedy Maciel.
She felt that the son of Cobrinha Charles did not have an exciting performance and was expecting more from Kennedy.
“Sometimes we have athletes that have a lot of good titles and a lot of good competition, but they are not fast enough, they don’t bring the pace that we need for our event. Today, I had to go to the back and talk to Kennedy Maciel. Like, ‘Kennedy, you are great, you are a world champion, but we need a faster pace from you.’ He was expecting to fight for the title next, but we have to go back to the lab and think about what we are going to do with him, because he needs to move faster for us to continue to bring him back in.”- Claudia Gadelha.
Gadelha went on to explain that she wasn’t personally attacking Kennedy Maciel, but was just critical of his performance. She stated that the UFC BJJ is looking for more athletes who will put on high-pace matches and not slow, methodical duels.
“Jiu-Jitsu can be methodical and slow, and it can also be very exciting and very fast. We are looking for the fast-paced athletes that get in there and fight and compete the whole time.”- Claudia Gadelha.
You can watch the whole post-event press conference below.
Bobby is martial artist for almost 20 years with a BJJ black belt under Professor Sergio Miranda. He is also a karate black and former combat sports athlete, who loves all things grappling.