Photo by Alexandre Schneider/Getty Images
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) women’s Strawweight champion, Jessica Andrade, will defend her title for the first time against Weili Zhang this Saturday night (Aug. 31, 2019) inside Universiade Sports Centre in Shenzhen, China.
Before then, let’s take a look back at the night Andrade realized her dream of becoming UFC champion.
On May 11 of this year, Jessica found herself going up against Rose Namajunas — who was fresh off back-to-back wins over Joanna Jedrzejczyk — at UFC 237. Early on, “Thug Rose” made it known that her striking was a level above Jessica’s as she peppered her time and again with precise shots to the face, opening up “Bate Estaca.”
And that was pretty much the story in the opening frame, as Rose even dropped Andrade in the final minute. It was a clear-cut and dominate round one for Rose. Round two started off the same way, with Namajunas having her jab work overtime for her.
Midway through the second frame, however, Andrade went in for takedown against the cage, setting her up for one of her powerful slams. Rose, though, did her best to stall it for a few moments. But in the blink of an eye, Jessica mustered up the power she needed to elevate Namajunas up high before dropping her on her head, knocking her clean out.
And just like that, Jessica was the new 115-pound champion. Now, she has a tough task ahead of her in her first-ever defense, as she looks to end Zhang’s amazing 19 fight win streak in “Magnum’s” own backyard.
To see the entire UFC Fight Night 157: “Andrade vs Zhang” fight card click here.