Fortunately for Liz Carmouche, it looks like a sudden switch-up in the women’s bantamweight division won’t cancel her next UFC appearance.
Now that Miesha Tate has been called up to the title picture, “Girl-Rilla” will instead greet a newcomer in Brazilian prospect Jessica Andrade at UFC on Fox 8 on July 27.
According to MMA Fighting, this will also be the first-ever UFC women’s fight shown on Fox.
Carmouche will look to get back on the winning track after losing a competitive main event title fight against champion Ronda Rousey at UFC 157, which ended in a first-round submission defeat for the challenger by armbar.
Although Carmouche was a significant underdog, the former Marine Corps technician nearly toppled “Rowdy” with a standing face crank and rear-naked choke attempt, faltering a mere 11 seconds before the end of the round.
Still, she’s only lost to elite competition so far, with her two other losses coming at the hands of former Strikeforce champions Sarah Kaufman and Marloes Coenen.
Jessica Andrade, on the other hand, is a more unknown quantity.
Hailing from Brazil with an 11-fight record (9-2), the 21-year-old has fought in regional promotions such as ProFC, Heavy Fighting Championship and Ring of Fire.
Until her last bout in Russia, Andrade had also never fought outside of Brazil.
UFC on Fox 8 is currently scheduled to feature a main event bout for the world flyweight championship, with Demetrious Johnson defending his title against John Moraga.
Interestingly, the event features another women’s bantamweight bout between Julie Kedzie and Germaine de Randamie, making this the first UFC card to include two women’s bouts on the same night.
To boot, the card will also feature a pair of high-profile matches with Rory MacDonald vs. Jake Ellenberger and Robbie Lawler vs. Tarec Saffiedine. According to the official UFC rankings, all four men are currently listed in the Top 10 of the welterweight division.
McKinley Noble is an MMA conspiracy theorist. His work has appeared in NVision, PC World, Macworld, GamePro, 1UP, MMA Mania and The L.A. Times.
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