Jéssica Andrade
Jéssica Fernanda da Costa Andrade (born September 25, 1991) is a Brazilian professional mixed martial artist. Andrade is currently signed to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where she competes in the women's Flyweight division. Andrade is the former UFC Women's Strawweight Champion. As of April 25, 2022, she is #3 in the UFC women's flyweight rankings and she is #5 in UFC women's pound for pound rankings. Background. Andrade was born on September 25, 1991, in Umuarama, Paraná, Brazil, to farmer parents Julio and Neusa Andrade. Jéssica and her older brother Fernando worked at  their parents' plantation fields throughout their childhood until the farm was municipalized, leading to the prohibition of underage labor. At the age of 14, she started working at a fish & pay pond and later delivering medicine for a drug store. Andrade grew up playing soccer and futsal, aspiring to become a professional soccer player. She succeeded well and eventually got offered to play for a São Paulo club, but her parents forbade her from moving. During school, Andrade started training judo and shortly afterward, in 2011, jiu-jitsu. Her teammates coined the nickname "bate estaca" (piledriver), a term used in  Brazil for body slams (also known as Daki age), after one of her first amateur BJJ competitions, when Andrade was caught in an armlock, she panicked and performed the illegal move on her opponent by lifting her and then slamming her head directly into the mat. To Andrade's surprise, she was immediately disqualified. Mixed martial arts career. Early career. Andrade made her professional mixed martial arts debut on September 6, 2011. For the first six professional fights, Andrade trained at Gracie Humaita in Umuarama, but after beating Duda Yankovich, she moved to Niterói in order to train at Paraná  Vale Tudo. She won eight of her first ten fights in her native Brazil. On April 14, 2013, Andrade fought outside of Brazil for the first time when she submitted Milana Dudieva at ProFC 47: Russia vs. Europe in Rostov-on-Don, Russia. Ultimate Fighting Championship. Bantamweight. Liz Carmouche was originally scheduled to face former Strikeforce Women's Bantamweight Champion Miesha Tate at , but Tate instead replaced the injured Cat Zingano on "The Ultimate Fighter". Andrade signed with the UFC and filled in against Carmouche at on July 23, 2013. This marked the first time that two openly gay fighters  went head-to-head in the UFC. Andrade lost the fight via TKO in the second round. Andrade's second UFC appearance took place on October 26, 2013, when she faced Rosi Sexton at UFC Fight Night 30. She won the fight via dominant unanimous decision. Andrade was expected to face TUF 18 women's winner Julianna Peña at UFC 171. However, Peña pulled out of the bout, after suffering an injury to her right knee, and she was replaced by Raquel Pennington. Andrade won the back-and-forth fight via split decision. Andrade was expected to face Valérie Létourneau  on September 13, 2014, at UFC Fight Night 51. However, Létourneau withdrew due to an injury and Andrade instead faced UFC newcomer Larissa Pacheco. She won the fight via submission in the first round. Andrade faced Marion Reneau on February 22, 2015, at UFC Fight Night 61. Andrade lost the fight as she was quickly submitted via a triangle choke in the first round. Andrade faced Sarah Moras on July 15, 2015, at . She won the fight by unanimous decision. Andrade made a quick turnaround, as she replaced an injured Liz Carmouche to take on Raquel Pennington at UFC 191 . She lost the fight by submission in the second round. Strawweight. In October 2015, Andrade announced her decision to move to the strawweight division. Andrade then faced former title challenger Jessica Penne at her new weight class on June 4, 2016, at UFC 199, winning the one sided bout via TKO in the second round. Andrade next faced Joanne Calderwood on September 10, 2016, at UFC 203. She won the fight via submission in the first round. Andrade and Invicta FC Strawweight Champion Angela Hill were briefly linked to a bout at UFC 207. However, the fight never materialized for  that event because of a rule in the UFC's anti-doping policy with USADA. Subsequently, Andrade was removed from that card with the pairing left intact and rescheduled to take place at on February 4, 2017. Andrade won the fight by unanimous decision. In addition, both participants were awarded "Fight of the Night" honors. Andrade faced Joanna Jędrzejczyk for the UFC Women's Strawweight Championship on May 13, 2017, at UFC 211 in Dallas, Texas. She lost the fight via unanimous decision. Andrade faced Cláudia Gadelha at on September 23, 2017. She won the fight via unanimous decision (30–25 , 30–26, and 30–27). This fight earned Andrade her second "Fight of the Night" bonus award. Andrade faced Tecia Torres on February 24, 2018, at UFC on Fox 28. She won the fight via unanimous decision. Andrade faced Karolina Kowalkiewicz on September 8, 2018, at UFC 228. She won the fight via knockout in the first round. This win earned her the Performance of the Night award. Andrade faced Rose Namajunas on May 11, 2019, for the UFC Women's Strawweight Championship in the main event at UFC 237. She won the fight via knockout (slam) in the second round. This  win earned her the "Fight of the Night" and "Performance of the Night" award. In the first defense of her title, Andrade faced Zhang Weili on August 31, 2019, in the main event at UFC on ESPN+ 15. She lost the fight via first-round technical knockout. Andrade was scheduled to face Rose Namajunas for a rematch on April 18, 2020 at UFC 249. On April 9, 2020, Namajunas pulled out for undisclosed reasons. Instead the bout was rescheduled and eventually took place on July 12, 2020 at UFC 251. Andrade lost the fight via split decision. This fight earned  her the" Fight of the Night" award. Flyweight. On the heels of two consecutive losses at strawweight, Andrade fought Katlyn Chookagian in a flyweight bout on October 18, 2020, at UFC Fight Night: Ortega vs. The Korean Zombie. Andrade defeated Chookagian by technical knockout in the first round to become the first woman in the UFC to win in three different weight divisions (bantamweight, strawweight, and flyweight). This win earned her the "Performance of the Night" award. Andrade faced Valentina Shevchenko for the UFC Women's Flyweight Championship on April 24, 2021 at UFC 261. She was dominated throughout the  bout and lost in the second round via elbows while in the crucifix position. Andrade faced Cynthia Calvillo on September 25, 2021 at UFC 266. She won the fight via technical knockout in round one. Return to strawweight. Andrade faced Amanda Lemos on April 23, 2022 at UFC Fight Night 205. She won the fight via a standing arm-triangle choke in round one, marking the first time this submission has been landed in UFC history. This win earned her the Performance of the Night award. Personal life. Andrade married her longtime girlfriend Fernanda (née Gomes) in 2019. On May  30, 2019, Andrade and Fernanda were robbed at gunpoint with their car and mobile phones being stolen in Brazil.