Jessica Andrade Moves to Flyweight to Take on Jessica Eye at Oct. 17 UFC Card

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Two Jessicas will enter the Octagon on Oct. 17, but only one will leave.

Late Thursday night, ESPN announced that the Ultimate Fighting Championship was putting together an intriguing flyweight matchup. Former strawweight queen Jessica Andrade (20-8) is planning on moving up a weight class to take on former title challenger Jessica Eye (15-8, 1 NC). The two are negotiating to square off on Oct. 17, at a UFC Fight Night event that does not have a location or venue scheduled at this point.

Andrade will become just the second woman in promotional history to compete at three different weight divisions – Valerie Letourneau the first – when she takes the trip to 125 pounds. The ex-115-pound champ lost her title in August 2019 to Weili Zhang, and dropped a split decision in a rematch with Rose Namajunas in July. This losing streak, the first of her career, prompted the change in division for the fighter that started her UFC tenure at bantamweight. Even in defeat to Namajunas, Andrade extended her record for the most UFC bouts of any female fighter with 17. When fighting someone that shared her given name, “Bate Estaca” is currently undefeated, having knocked out Jessica Penne at UFC 199 in 2016.

Eye has alternated wins and losses in her last four, including a violent head kick knockout defeat to champ Valentina Shevchenko, and most recently, dropping a decision to divisional newcomer Cynthia Calvillo. When facing Calvillo, “Evil” Eye missed weight, and in the process became one of a small number of UFC fighters to ever come in over the limit for two consecutive bouts. Like Andrade, Eye used to compete at 135 pounds inside the Octagon, and also fought in the division because her standard flyweight class was not available at the time. Like Andrade, Eye has faced an opponent with the same first name, and is also unbeaten against other Jessicas after defeating Jessica-Rose Clark at UFC Fight Night 132 in 2018.

The UFC Fight Night event taking place on Oct. 17 does not currently have a location established. No headliner has been announced for the card, and it is not expected that Andrade vs. Eye will serve as the main event. One other fight has been billed for the card, with Combate reporting that Gillian Robertson will take on Poliana Botelho also in the flyweight division.