Jessica Andrade’s triumphant return to the strawweight division proved to be short-lived.
After a first-round submission of Amanda Lemos in her return to 115 pounds at UFC Fight Night 205, the plan was for Andrade to climb the rankings in the weight class until she earned a title shot. Things changed when she was given a short-notice opportunity to face Manon Fiorot in a flyweight bout at UFC Paris on Sept. 3.
"Our focus was 100% on strawweight, but it´s pretty clear that [Carla] Esparza must face [Weili] Zhang and Marina [Rodriguez] must face Rose [Namajunas]. We cannot keep waiting on results,” her coach, Giliard Parana, told Sherdog.com. “The point is that Jessica is one of the best-paid girls in any female division and the reality is that is not easy for the UFC to find opponents for her. Since we moved to the United States and need to pay our bills, she needs to fight and UFC knows that whenever they need, they can count on us.”
Fiorot, who is five inches taller than Andrade and in the midst of a nine-bout winning streak, is considered by Giliard to be a tough opponent but nonetheless a favorable matchup for “Bate Estaca.”
"She has proven to be a very tough at middle to long range, so Jessica´s job will be pressure her and take her out of that comfort zone,” Giliard said. “And it can be via short distance, dirty boxing, wrestling, ground-and-pound or jiu-jitsu.”
With Andrade ranked in the Top 10 at both strawweight and flyweight, Parana says his fighter is open to any UFC proposal.
"The most important thing is to be in shape and always ready for any UFC call,” he said. “With the structure [the UFC Performance Institute] provides to us here in Vegas, that´s not a problem. The UFC knows that Jessica can fight at strawweight, flyweight and even bantamweight, if needed.”
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