‘Bate Estaca’ is returning to strawweight for her next time out.
Jéssica Andrade is wasting no time returning to the Octagon.
Marcel Dorff of Eurosport Nederland reports that Andrade faces Xiaonan Yan at UFC 288, the upcoming pay-per-view event scheduled for May 6 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
After suffering a second-round submission loss to Erin Blanchfield, ‘Bate Estaca’ announced a move from flyweight to strawweight. The former champion alternated between the weight classes, earning wins over names such as Katlyn Chookagian, Cynthia Calvillo and Amanda Lemos.
A dominant performance against Lauren Murphy at UFC 283 in January followed, and it appeared as though Andrade was on the cusp of another championship opportunity against Valentina Shevchenko. That was until she ran into Blanchfield at UFC Vegas 69 in February.
In her most recent appearance, Yan returned to the win column with a majority decision over Mackenzie Dern at UFC Vegas 61 this past October. Prior to that, ‘Fury’ lost back-to-back fights against Carla Esparza and Marina Rodriguez at UFC Vegas 27 and UFC 272, respectively.
Andrade and Yan are ranked No. 4 and No. 6 in the strawweight division.
With the addition of Andrade vs. Yan, UFC 288 has nine fights confirmed. Though unannounced, a bantamweight championship fight between Aljamain Sterling and Henry Cejudo is expected to headline. Stay tuned to Bloody Elbow for more updates to the event as they become available in the coming months.
About the author: Kristen King is a writer for Bloody Elbow. She has covered combat sports since 2016. (full bio)