Randa Markos has been a member of the UFC roster since 2014. During that time, she has put together a record of 5-5-1. Markos has never had a two-fight winning streak with the UFC. She came close in her past two fights, earning a majority draw with Marina Rodriguez in 2018 and then submitting Angela Hill in March of this year. On Saturday, she looks to make it two in a row when she faces Claudia Gadelha in a women’s strawweight battle on the prelim card of UFC 239.
Markos has her work cut out for her in this matchup.
Gadelha, who has also been with the UFC since 2014, is the No. 6 ranked fighter in the 115-pound division, while Markos checks in at No. 14. The early odds favor Gadelha. She is a -240 favorite over Markos, who is a +190 underdog. And while Markos was also the underdog against Hill, the odds in that fight were much closer.
This might be the most significant opportunity of Markos’ career. Yes, she does have a split decision win over former champion Carla Esparza, but by that time Esparza had lost a lot of her shine thanks to the beatdown she took in losing her title to Joanna Jedrzejczyk in 2015. Meanwhile, Gadelha took Jedrzejczyk the distance in two fights, including a five-round title fight in 2016. She also went the distance with Jessica Andrade in a 2017 matchup. Andrade is the current strawweight titleholder.
Gadelha has always been lurking near the top of the division. She is coming off a decision loss to Nina Ansaroff in a fight where she was a substantial favorite. With that, expect Gadelha to be motivated to not give up her position in the strawweight pecking order.
Markos has never had more momentum going into a fight. She earned her first fight-night bonus with her first-round submission win over Hill and she has to know that a win here could put her in a position for a possible title eliminator fight before the end of 2019. A victory over a fighter as highly thought of as Gadelha could be just the type of confidence boost Markos needs at this point in her career.
UFC 239 takes place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday. The main card streams on ESPN+ following prelims on ESPN and ESPN+.
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