No love lost between Jedrzejczyk, Gadelha entering rematch

— -- On December 13, 2014, one night after Carla Esparza was crowned the inaugural women's strawweight champion in Las Vegas, Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Claudia Gadelha battled to a paper-thin split decision on the undercard of a UFC card in Phoenix.

It was a back-and-forth battle, with Jedrzejczyk dropping Gadelha with an uppercut in the final seconds of the first round. According to FightMetric, Gadelha landed more total strikes, 59-47, but Jedrzejczyk did better with significant strikes, 38-27. Gadelha also completed seven takedowns on 16 attempts, but two of the three judges saw the fight in favor of the Polish kickboxer.

Fast forward to now: Jedrzejczyk is the 115-pound champion after dominating Esparza last March to win the title before successfully defending the belt twice. Gadelha has fought once since, a victory by way of a unanimous decision against Jessica Aguilar in August.

Their paths met yet again as coaches in the 23rd season of "The Ultimate Fighter," which is where the rivalry between the two really ramped up. Looking back on their journey from the prelims nearly two years ago to the main event of Friday's TUF Finale in Las Vegas, ESPN.com spoke with the top two fighters in the strawweight division about their first fight, the rematch and their relationship.

Your first fight was very close, with Jedrzejczyk getting the split decision. Regardless of what the judges said, why do you feel you won that fight?

Gadelha: If you watch the fight, you're going to see me grinding Joanna in the first round. The whole time, I took her down. I got to her head first, move to the mount, side control. The last 10 seconds of the first round, she got an uppercut and knocked me down. But then if you stop and see the last two rounds, I was grinding her the whole time, taking her down, keeping her in the wall. She didn't really do anything.

If you really talk about the striking part, I was putting pressure on her, fighting her back the whole time. The only thing that she did was the knockdown in the last 10 seconds of the first round. The fighting kind of went by the round. I really think I won the last two rounds.

Jedrzejczyk: You know that my first fight with Claudia Gadelha was close but I know that I won that fight and so many people who watched that fight, they said that I won that fight. [But] you never can discuss with the judges, you know? You must step into the Octagon and do your best. When I was waiting for the announcement for the decision of that fight, I was like talking to myself that I did my job. "Joanna, you did great. You came here as an underdog. You dropped Claudia on the end of the first chance, and you won that fight. It's all up to the judges how they saw the fight." And they were right.

They gave me the decision, I won that fight. It was a split decision but still, I won that fight. Claudia shouldn't complain about it anymore. She can blame just herself. When you step into the Octagon, you must make sure that you're going to do your job and that's all.

In what ways are you a better fighter since the first bout?

Gadelha: I'm a whole different fighter. If you watch my last fight with Jessica Aguilar, I showed that I was different but now it's even a lot more. Now it's almost two years since we fought the first time and I've been working so hard to get this fight and to show everybody who really won the first match. So I think everything I do, everything I did in this fight I can do better now. I'm way better. And I've proved a lot with my striking.

Jedrzejczyk: I became a champion. I became a different fighter after the fight with Claudia Gadelha. I fought three times. I fought for 11 rounds. Claudia Galdelha has just one fight. With Jessica Aguilar, she fought three rounds. She has been talking that she became a better fighter, that she is more complete than she was last time. You know you can be the master and the champion of the kick back, you can be the champion of training session, you can be the champion of the sparring. All of what you can prove and what you should prove is the fight.

How has the experience taping "The Ultimate Fighter" affected your relationship?

Gadelha: Being with her, around her, dealing with her on "The Ultimate Fighter" was good to see how she is. Because I knew she was very disrespectful, now I'm sure she that she is disrespectful. I grew up under the BJJ philosophy under martial arts, I learned how to respect people, to respect my opponent, coaches, kids, adults -- everybody. That's what I learned under the philosophy of martial arts. And Joanna, she didn't care about that, she was disrespectful. She disrespected me a lot. She was trying to bully me the whole time and I didn't even pay attention. I caught her trying to disrespect my coaches. She really showed it as she was not only playing around trying to play mind games, she was being disrespectful. That's how she is.

Jedrzejczyk: I saw Claudia every day. We had some better and worse days, but I just did my job. Sometimes you accept one person more, others less. Definitely, Claudia is a person who I don't like but I respect her as a fighter because she's very, very good, lots of skills, lots of experience and she can fight really tough.

After the first fight you appeared to be very respectful to each other. Was there a specific moment when that changed?

Gadelha: When she got the belt. She got the belt, she put like a mask on her face. She tried to do things she never did before. I know that she has always tried getting into her opponent's mind but she started to be very disrespectful with everybody once she got the belt. So I think that the belt was a mask for her face to show who she really is.

Jedrzejczyk: She cannot handle it, that she's not the champion. She would like to be in my spot. We had a really slow first fight. She feels that she could be in my spot but she didn't do enough for this. Okay, maybe she deserves to fight for this title. She is No. 1 in the rankings but she cannot forget that there is a champion and I am that champion. She can't handle it [that] she didn't do enough, she didn't do enough. There are so many girls who I suppose should get the chance to fight for the title, but OK, Claudia Gadelha deserves it. Let's do this, and she's going to see and feel, that's all.

What would a win in this rematch mean to you?

Gadelha: It would mean the world. I have been through a lot to get to today. I've fought so hard to live my dream. If you know my history, I've been through a lot to get to this title fight. It would be my dream. It's going to mean everything. For my life, for everything that I've sacrificed to be here today, for my family and for people that I love.

Jedrzejczyk: It means a lot for me because I'm going to prove to myself, to Claudia, to other people that there is only one champion. There is only one real champion and it's me.