Brazilian knockout artist, Jessica Andrade, will challenge the champ, Rose Namajunas, this Saturday (May 11, 2019) at UFC 237 from inside Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
It’s pretty wild to look back at Andrade’s Bantamweight career, in which the 5’2” bruiser still out-muscled opponents and was a highly-regarded contender. The drop in weight classes made all the sense in the world though, and the results have been pretty spectacular. Outside of her first failed title bid to Joanna Jedrzejczyk, Andrade has completely dominated all of her competition at 115 pounds, including her last three victories, which all came opposite top five-ranked opposition.
Simply put, Andrade has a ton of momentum behind her, enough that she’s actually slightly favored over the defending champion. Let’s take a closer look into her skill set:
Striking
Andrade is a mauler. Her physical strength is unmatched at 115 pounds, and her conditioning is only equaled by the few others with seemingly endless gas tanks. Those physical attributes are immensely important to Andrade’s overall game, as without both she would be far less effective.
On the feet, Andrade frequently draws comparison to John Lineker with good reason. Though Andrade does not quite possess Lineker’s boxing craft, the two share a love of aggressively swinging for the knockout with wide hooks and overhands. Again, Lineker tends to set up his punches better, but when the two go into full brawl mode, it all makes perfect sense.
Andrade does not hide her intentions. The Brazilian is going to charge forward on a straight line, swinging hooks and eventually crashing into her opponent. That lack of subtlety does mean Andrade is rather easy to counter. Even in her more recent fights with Jedrzejczyk, Gadelha, and Torres, all three women landed very easy counter right hands by circling laterally, planting their feet, and sticking as cross as Andrade chased.
The problem is that Andrade is not determined by a few right hands. In fact, Jedrzejczyk spent the better part of five rounds landing dozens of counter strikes — including stinging rights and clean high kicks — and Andrade was still chasing and swinging late into the fight. Eventually, all those women except for Jedrzejczyk slowed down a bit or allowed Andrade into the pocket, at which point Andrade’s physicality began to take over.
Perhaps the most important development to Andrade’s approach is her commitment to body shots (GIF). Andrade may still be winging hooks through the air, but the mid-section is a much larger target. Body shots ruined gas tanks and make active footwork far more difficult, meaning each hook to the ribs further increases the amount of time Andrade will enjoy in the pocket. Furthermore, there’s the obvious benefit of causing an opponent’s hands to drop, which can create the opportunity for a knockout blow (GIF).
Often times, Andrade’s combination of aggressive forward movement and wide hooks means she’ll crash into her opponent, landing in the clinch. Usually, this is the point where Andrade will jam her foe into the fence and look to wrestle. However, Andrade will also look to latch onto the double-collar tie directly from the wide hooks in classic Wanderlei Silva-fashion.
As a result of her clear intentions, opponents generally look to circle away from Andrade’s straightforward charges. In truth, the Brazilian does little to adjust, willingly eating counter punches as she waits for her opponent to fatigue or eventually make the mistake of backing straight up. However, like Lineker, Andrade has realized that kicks can help her chase down a circling foe. In Andrade’s case, she prefers the inside low kick, knocking out her opponent from her stance and momentarily pinning her in place for big hooks.
Wrestling
Andrade’s wrestling has become dramatically more effective since dropping down to face opponents who are not much, much larger. Extremely powerful with a low center of gravity, Andrade looks to trap her opponent along the fence under that whirlwind of powerful hooks, at which point she’ll lower her level even further and drive into the hips with a shot.
Though she tends to prefer the high-crotch takedown, it doesn’t seem to matter whether her head is on the outside (GIF), inside (GIF), or chasing the double leg (GIF). Andrade understands the fundamentals of lifting a squirming opponent well, and those keys in posture and positioning are the subject of this week’s technique highlight.
Since moving to 115 pounds, defensive wrestling has not been an issue for Andrade like it was against the bigger Bantamweights. Her wide swings do create openings for the double leg, which Tecia Torres managed to capitalize upon a couple times, but even then Andrade is so quick to work back to her feet that it hardly mattered.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
A jiu-jitsu brown belt, Andrade has finished seven of her opponents via tapout. At 135 lbs., she was again more vulnerable to her opponent’s grappling, but size really does matter on the mat. At her more natural weight class, Andrade proved her grappling by avoiding the submissions of Claudia Gadelha and generally dominating from top position. Plus, a big benefit of Andrade’s high-octane style of finishing takedowns is that she often lands passed the guard.
Offensively, Andrade’s signature technique is the arm-in guillotine. Overall, guillotines account for all but one of her tapout victories. Like the rest of her game, the technique here is not particularly complex, but that doesn’t make it less effective. After wrapping up the arm and neck, Andrade does a very good job of throwing her hips at her opponent, ensuring she’s able to secure guard and squeeze (GIF). Opposite Larissa Pacheco, Andrade used the same squeeze and heavy hips to finish the hold from top position half-guard (GIF). That’s generally a difficult position to finish the guillotine, and again it emphasizes the power of “Bate Estaca.”
Conclusion
Andrade is a physical force with a relatively simple approach to mixed martial arts (MMA). She’s taking on a technician, a smart fighter with a smart coach who will surely be looking to replicate Jedrzejczyk’s victory over Andrade. Yet, it seems unlikely that Andrade is going to change up anything — she’s going to attempt to crush Namajunas with power for five full rounds, and Andrade really only needs one mistake to end the fight or at least drastically change the momentum.
Andrew Richardson, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt, is a professional fighter who trains at Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, California. In addition to learning alongside world-class talent, Andrew has scouted opponents and developed winning strategies for several of the sport’s most elite fighters.