Jessica Andrade Explains How She Can Beat Rose Namajunas

Jessica Andrade explains why she thinks she has the perfect strategy to become the next UFC women’s strawweight champion.

The #1 contender is slated to challenge Rose Namajunas for the strap at the upcoming UFC 237 pay-per-view event. Andrade (19-6) is riding a three-fight win streak with victories over Claudia Gadelha and Tecia Torres. Andrade has also fought Jedrzejczyk for the strawweight title and was defeated via unanimous decision at UFC 211 in May 2017.

Andrade spoke with reporters during a media day recently in Rio de Janeiro where she explained her strategy.

“Rose has a great striking,” Andrade told MMAFighting. “We can see her improvement, especially in her fights against Joanna. She’s fast, has a bigger reach and is taller than me. The strategy is to back her up (against the cage), and every time she’s put against the cage she comes back more tired in the next round.”

“I believe that the strategy is get her tired and then impose our game and everything will be alright,” she continued. “It’s easy (for her) to fight Joanna, who connects and then runs, but it’s a bit more complicated to fight a tractor that will put pressure the entire time. I have to close the distance to make sure she doesn’t land her punches,” Andrade said. “Her punch will be weaker on short range. Don’t give her space to connect her hard punches. Get her arms tired so her punches are weaker, too.”

The UFC 237 pay-per-view event is set to take place on Saturday, May 11, 2019 at Arena da Baixada in Curitiba, Brazil. The main card will air on pay-per-view at 10 p.m. ET. The preliminary card will air on ESPN at 8 p.m. ET and the the UFC’s streaming service, Fight Pass.