Sherdog’s Top 10: Rising Stars, 2014 First Edition

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9. Claudia Gadelha (12-0)

Although the name might not be as familiar as some of those currently gracing the 20th season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” women’s strawweight Gadelha has been pegged as a future divisional champion for years. The winner of multiple Brazilian jiu-jitsu world championships as a brown belt, Gadelha is now a black belt under Nova Uniao impresario Andre Pederneiras, who has more than a little experience as a trainer of UFC champions.

Do not let those BJJ championships fool you into thinking that Gadelha is one-dimensional. The 25-year-old can do it all inside the cage, showcasing lightning-fast hands, an explosive wrestling game and big power in all of her strikes. She is an outstanding athlete with great quickness -- the kind of physical tools that are exceptionally hard to find in any weight class and even more so in the new and relatively thin women’s divisions.

Now six years into her professional career, Gadelha is primed to make a run for the belt, and it is a safe bet that the winner of her upcoming bout with Joanna Jedrzejczyk will get the first crack at the eventual victor of this season of “The Ultimate Fighter.”

Number 8 » He can strike with technique and power, wrestle like a collegiate competitor and grapple with the aplomb of a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, and he melds all of those facets together in a sum worth a great deal more than the individual parts.