(The photo you’ve seen 1,000,000x by now, courtesy of Getty Images.)
With Miesha Tate suddenly replacing the injured Cat Zingano as a TUF 18 coach, former title contender Liz Carmouche was left without an opponent for UFC on FOX 8. According to MMAFighting.com, the UFC has found a replacement opponent for Carmouche, and that opponent will be UFC newcomer Jessica Andrade.
Before we go any further, it’s okay: This is the first time we’ve heard of Andrade, too.
What we know about Andrade – or “Bate Estaca” as her friends call her – is that at twenty-one years old she’ll be the youngest female fighter in the UFC. She has been competing professionally for almost two years now and has compiled an impressive 9-2 record with all of her victories coming by stoppage. Granted, six of those nine victories came over fighters who were making their professional MMA debuts, but the fact that she has fought nine times since last May is still extremely impressive. Her most recent victory came over Milana Dudieva in April.
As for Carmouche, if you don’t know her recent fight history by now, I’m afraid that there’s not much I can do for you.
After the jump, we have some videos of Andrade in action.
Andrade vs. Duda Yankovich, 09/08/2012.
Andrade vs. Alessandra Silva, 09/15/2012. Yes, that date is correct.
Andrade vs. Vanessa Silva, 10/13/2012. You may want to turn your speakers down for this one…
Andrade vs. Milana Dudieva, 04/14/2013.
So, does she have what it takes to beat Carmouche?