“Who knows, when I beat Valentina maybe I’m able to have a rematch or fight the new champion at strawweight,” says Jessica Andrade
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Valentina Shevchenko and Jessica Andrade
The number one women’s flyweight fighter Jessica Andrade is going to face the women’s flyweight champion, Valentina Shevchenko, at UFC 261. This is going to Shevchenko’s fifth title defense and Andrade is in all mood to make this her last.
Jessica Andrade is coming in this fight by defeating Katlyn Chookagain and becoming the only woman to win fights in three different divisions in UFC. She is a huge underdog in this fight with betting odds of +310 in her favor and she doesn’t really mind it.
In her latest interview with South China Morning Post, Andrade says, “I wanted this challenge when I was strawweight champion but the first time I defended my belt I ended up losing and I thought this opportunity of fighting Valentina one day was maybe lost,”
“I’m best when I’m the underdog. When people don’t believe in me or think my opponent is better, they don’t expect what I can do and I have the opportunity of surprising them. And I think that’s what motivates me the most.”
“I believe what will work best for me is not giving her space, Lots of people underestimate Shevchenko, and then she can show all her skills and counter-attacks. When you take the space away from her I feel she gets a little bit lost, she loses her kicks and her spinning techniques.”
“My first objective is going to be to tire her a little bit against the cage, ultimately take her down which I’ve proven I can do very well. And who knows, maybe in the third round when she’s a little bit more tired, get the KO, get the submission, finish the fight.”
Jessica Andrade admits that she wants to be the double champ
UFC 261 doesn’t only hold Valentina Shevchenko’s title defense. It also holds Weili Zhang’s title defense against Rose Namajunas and Jessica Andrade admits that if she wins the Flyweight title, she will also go for the strawweight title.
Andrade added, “Who knows, when I beat Valentina maybe I’m able to have a rematch or fight the new champion at strawweight, I think it’s every fighter’s dream to have two belts at the same time.”
“That would be incredible, but the first thing in my way is Valentina Shevchenko and she’s an incredibly strong opponent. I’m not cocky to say that if I get both belts, I’m going to defend both at the same time,”
“Probably, I would keep my flyweight belt and prove I could win at strawweight and continue fighting at flyweight and defend.”
“It’s been really good to be at flyweight, fighting for a while really takes its toll on the body. So there are definitely some benefits in fighting a weight up.”
Also Read: “It’s just longer punishment for Nate than anything,” says Leon Edwards about his match at UFC 262.
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Shivansh Thakur
(1173 Articles Published)