Jessica Andrade embodies the violence and technique that attracts so many to the sport of mixed martial arts. The Brazilian dynamo will put her Ultimate Fighting Championship women’s strawweight title on the line against the surging Weili Zhang—she of the current 19-fight winning streak—in the UFC Fight Night 157 main event on Aug. 31 at Shenzhen Universiade Sports Centre in Shenzhen, China. Andrade laid claim to the 115-pound crown in May, when she knocked out Rose Namajunas with a second-round slam and put the rest of the division on high alert. The 27-year-old Parana Vale Tudo cornerstone holds the rank of brown belt in Brazilian jiujitsu under longtime mentor Gilliard Alfredo Fagundes. As Andrade barrels toward her first title defense, here are five things you should know about her.
Cover Photo: Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC (Getty Images)
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Jessica Andrade
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1. The sport has taken her far and wide.
China will be the sixth different country in which Andrade has competed as a mixed martial artist, joining Brazil, Russia, England, Japan and the United States. She owns a 10-3 record in Brazil, a 7-3 mark in the United States and 1-0 records in Russia, England and Japan.
Photo: Cooper Neill/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC (Getty Images)
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2. She wields a full complement of skills.
Though she has become feared for the punching power housed in her heavy hands, Andrade has other weapons at her disposal. She has delivered more than one-third (seven) of her 20 career victories by submission, six of them by guillotine choke. Joanne Calderwood, Larissa Pacheco, Milana Dudieva, Alessandra Silva, Duda Yankovich and Juliana Silva were all victimized by Andrade guillotines. The lone outlier was a rear-naked choke submission of Luciana dos Passos Pereira in January 2013.
Photo: Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC (Getty Images)
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3. She carries a fitting moniker.
Andrade’s nickname, "Bate Estaca," means "pile driver" in English and seems quite appropriate given her powerful but diminutive 5-foot-2 frame.
Photo: Alexandre Schneider (Getty Images)
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4. Her crowd-pleasing style has created its own revenue stream.
Andrade has pocketed six post-fight bonuses—three for Fight of the Night and three for Performance of the Night—across her last six appearances inside the Octagon, providing her with $300,000 in additional income.
Photo: Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC (Getty Images)
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5. History will remember her name.
Andrade is one of four women who have captured the UFC women’s strawweight championship. Namajunas, Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Carla Esparza are the others. Jedrzejczyk held the title for a record 966 days, from March 14, 2015 to Nov. 4, 2017.
Photo: Alexandre Schneider (Getty Images)
