Trainer: Back injury forced Jessica Andrade to withdraw from UFC Paris

After agreeing to replace Katlyn Chookagian against Manon Fiorot at UFC Fight Night 209 in Paris on Sept. 3, Jessica Andrade was forced to withdraw from the event due to a herniated disc in her back.

Sherdog.com confirmed the news with Andrade’s head trainer, Gilliard Parana. Chookagian has since agreed to step back in take the fight against Fiorot following Andrade’s exit.

“She [Andrade] started to feel very strong pain in her back and after examination, the physiotherapist of [the UFC Performance Institute] told her to rest for three weeks,” Parana said. “That would mean less than one month of camp to prepare for such a tough challenge, so we decided to leave the card and focus 100% on the healing process.”

According to Parana, even though Andrade is in the UFC rankings at both flyweight and strawweight, her primary focus is 115 pounds.

“The UFC knows they can count on us, but we believe Jessica’s ideal division is strawweight,” Parana said. “There are great matchups to make. With all the structure and support we have here at the Las Vegas PI, I have no doubt that soon she will be the queen of that division.”