Jessica Andrade Open to Fights in Multiple Divisions, Believes 115 is Where She’ll ‘Excel’

Jessica Andrade made history in her first strawweight bout since 2020.

Andrade became the first fighter in the promotion to win a bout via standing arm-triangle choke when she used the manuever to submit Amanda Lemos in the opening round of their headlining bout at UFC Fight Night 205 on Saturday. “Bate Estaca” had to endure some damage on the feet to close the distance against Lemos, who entered the bout on a five-bout winning streak, but that was all part of the plan. Andrade was just able to put everything in motion a little bit sooner than expected.

“We knew how dangerous she was, especially in the first round. We were very much aware of it,” Andrade said at the post-fight press conference.

“The plan was to tire her out in the first round, maybe second round, so then I could take over in the third. Luckily that happened. I knew that she was going to hurt me, and I had to be cautious about it in the first round, but as soon as I get close quarters I knew she would be worried about it because girls get scared when I get to close quarters, and that’s what happened. The moment I connected with her, she put her arm up and I knew, ‘That’s it.’ That’s what we’d been planning all week.”

Andrade is realistic about her standing at strawweight. She knows a title shot may be at least a fight away but believes there are other interesting options in the division. She’s also open to fighting at flyweight or bantamweight if the right opportunity arises.

“I think this is a big win,” she said. “We were aware that going into this one, I was ranked No. 10, so I couldn’t really expect to be a title challenger right away. But it was also on my mind that, maybe if we do something different, if we have a devastating win, if we really do something outside of the norm, maybe, who knows. It’s a tough division. There are a bunch of girls ahead of me. Maybe we can get the conversation going.

“No matter what, I want to keep active if the girls are fighting right away – Joanna [Jedrzejczyk] and [Zhang] Weili. If I can fight someone there it would be great. Hopefully, it could be soon, because they’re fighting next month. But if that doesn’t happen, if there’s something good at flyweight, I don’t mind fighting there. If there’s something interesting at bantamweight, I’ll fight there. It’s all good. Just keep me ranked everywhere, and I’ll fight whoever’s in front of me.”

Andrade acknowledged, however, that her best chance for success lies at 115 pounds.

“I had two rough weight cuts in my last fights at strawweight, and that is what prompted me to fight at flyweight,” Andrade said. “Things weren’t going well, my head wasn’t in a good place. It was a little traumatic, the last two ones I had. So we decided to just take a break. Let’s give it some time, let’s do something in a weight class above. Let’s just remove weight cutting from your mind for a little bit.

“As well as things went at flyweight, strawweight is where I’m going to excel at. I know I can to do well at flyweight, I know that I can beat a bunch of girls at bantamweight. But if I want to be champion again, strawweight is the place to be.”