A pair of hard-hitting UFC strawweights will collide in April.
MMA Fighting was the first to report the news that former strawweight champion and 125lb title challenger Jessica Andrade will fight No. 10 ranked strawweight Amanda Lemos on April 23 at a yet-to-be-announced UFC event. A source close to the situation subsequently confirmed the booking with Cageside Press.
Andrade (22-9) will return to strawweight after a three-fight run in which she challenged Valentina Shevchenko for the flyweight belt at UFC 261, ending up finished in the second round. She also fought Katlyn Chookagian and Cynthia Calvillo, defeating both by TKO. The three-time title challenger has fought at strawweight ten times with wins over the who’s who of the division.
Andrade actually started her UFC run in the bantamweight division.
Lemos (11-1-1) has been on an absolute roll since losing her UFC debut in 2017 to Leslie Smith in a bantamweight bout. Lemos went 3-0 in 2021 with two first-round knockouts of Livia Renata Souza and Montserrat Ruiz. She ended her year with a very close split decision win over Angel Hill.
This is a very big step up in competition for Lemos, but with a win, she will insert herself firmly into the strawweight title picture.
The UFC’s April 23, 2022 event does not have an official location, venue, or broadcast plan announced.
The April fight card currently looks like this.
- Jessica Andrade vs. Amanda Lemos
- Clay Guida vs. Claudio Puelles
- Louis Cosce vs. Preston Parsons
- Mike Jackson vs. Dean Barry
- Qileng Aori vs. Cameron Else
