ABU DHABI – Just because the UFC strawweight title changed hands last weekend, that doesn’t mean Claudia Gadelha feels like any less of a contender.

When she spoke to MMA Junkie on Thursday, the former title challenger dished on Weili Zhang’s dominant performance against Jessica Andrade at UFC Shenzhen.

A relative newcomer to the division, Zhang defeated Andrade in 42 seconds with knees and punches. The bout was only Zhang’s fourth in the UFC and her first TKO in that stretch.

Having competed for the strawweight title once before in July 2016, Gadelha (17-4 MMA, 6-4 UFC) believes she will once again return to title challenger status.

“I definitely can be up there again,” Gadelha said of making a title run. “I wanted to fight Jessica again, because I feel like she is really strong but not really technical. Her whole thing was her strength.

“She fought Weili (Zhang) in not a smart way. She rushed to knock her out and ended up being knocked out. I feel like Weili is a good champion. She’s a good fighter, and I’m definitely on that level. I want to get back in there.”

In Gadelha’s opinion, Zhang is good, but it’s still difficult to say exactly how good. The Brazilian cited Zhang’s lack of UFC-caliber fights when she indicated she believes the jury is still out.

“It’s hard to tell,” Gadelha said. “She has a great record, but she hasn’t fought anybody in the highest level other than the last four girls she fought. We didn’t see a lot of her yet. I know she’s an amazing athlete. She has these amazing skills, but how far can she go?

“We don’t know yet. We’ve been in the game for so long, we want to get back in there and fight her.”

It’s been a rollercoaster few months for Gadelha. During her most recent bout against Randa Markos at UFC 239 in July, Gadelha broke one of her fingers. Paired with a torn ankle ligament when she entered the fight, Gadelha went on the mend.

For the past couple of months, Gadelha has made the most of her time off by traveling the world by herself. After she visited a couple of “bucket list countries,” Gadelha was booked for a fight against Cynthia Calvillo (8-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) on the upcoming UFC on ESPN 7 card in December.

“Cynthia is an amazing athlete and an amazing fighter, but I want to show my skills,” Gadelha said. “I want to get back in there like I used to fight – like that Claudia that looks to finish fights and win fights. I want to get up there and fight for the title.”