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Jessica Andrade, a brief history
Jessica Andrade has been a UFC staple for just shy of a decade. She made her debut on July 27, 2013 against Liz Carmouche at bantamweight at UFC on Fox: Johnson vs. Moraga, logging a loss in that effort. She’d go on to win her next three fights, defeating the likes of Raquel Pennington and current PFL women’s lightweight GP winner Larissa Pacheco.
In 2016, she moved to strawweight and racked up three consecutive wins, leading to a title bout with Joanna Jędrzejczyk. She would lose their 5-round battle, dominated by the Polish champion, but rebounded with a 4-fight win streak, capturing the title in the process after a sensational second round slam knockout victory over then-champ Rose Namajunas.
She didn’t keep the belt long, though, losing it to another powerhouse in Zhang Weili, and then lost her next fight, a controversial split decision in a rematch with Namajunas. So, in 2018, Jessica Andrade would make a third division jump, this time up to 125 pounds, finding immediate success with a sensational finish over perennial contender Katlyn Chookagian. That win launched her straight into an immediate title bout, but the reigning flyweight queen at the time, Valentina Shevchenko, would prove too much for her, scoring the TKO finish in the second round.
Since then, she’s gone 3-1 across two divisions after having made a brief return to strawweight last year and in the process executed one of the nastiest standing arm triangles I’ve ever seen on opponent Amanda Lemos. She’s coming into this fight with Yan Xiaonan with a whopping nine performance bonuses. In one of her fights (versus Rose Namajunas I), she won FOTN and POTN.
People agree
It goes without saying that she is mega-talented. So, when Jon Anik made a Twitter post praising her many accolades and calling her a Hall-of-Famer, I was hard pressed to find an argument against it. And from the looks of the comments under the original post and the retweet of it from espnW, many would agree.
The tweet reads:
“NEWARK — At #UFC288, Jessica Andrade is set to compete in her 24th UFC fight, most all-time amongst UFC women. She has won fights across three divisions + that includes a UFC strawweight championship in dramatic fashion in 2019. Hall-of-Famer. #onceuponatimeupinjerseyYO“
Jessica Andrade is the most prolific female fighter on the roster with 23 contests over three divisions. She’s won a belt and she did it in the most dramatic, exciting fashion. Win, lose or draw, she never has a boring fight. I’m in firm agreement with Jon Anik, she’s Hall of Fame caliber.
While we’re here
And while we’re here, what about fighters that can be problematic? Should there be barriers for entry for athletes that exhibit inappropriate or unacceptable behavior? With Donald Cerrone’s recent admission to the UFC HOF, many questions were raised as to what criteria should be for entry, as well as what issues could/should prevent entry. Jon Jones has a long history of run-ins with law enforcement. He’s been stripped of his title more than once. Would you consider any or all of his troubled history as a barrier for entry?
More discussion
Please check out the episode where we also discussed select fights from UFC 288 and took a brief look back at UFC Vegas 72, as well as the conversation on Jessica Andrade being Hall of Fame material. Please share our work with your friends and family.
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