UFC APEX – A banger of a flyweight fight took place at UFC Vegas 97 between Jessica Andrade and Natalia Silva in a battle to get into the title picture on Saturday night.
Andrade (26-12) came into the fight with a massive UFC experience advantage and a title reign under her belt back in her strawweight days. With a two-fight win streak stemming off impressive victories over Mackenzie Dern and Marina Rodriguez she looked to add a rising star to her resume.
Silva (17-5-1) has not lost a fight since 2017 and took on Andrade riding an impressive 5-fight win streak. Victories over Jasmine Jasudavicius, Tereza Bleda, Victoria Leonardo, Andrea Lee and Viviane Araujo set up a date with the hard-hitting Andrade.
Round 1: Silva came out fast landing leg kicks and a clean left hand. She moves lateral quite a bit but Andrade did a great job of cutting the cage off. Still she waited a long time to throw anything. Andrade finally attacked and Silva smothered her shots and moved away.
Silva may have been landing more strikes, but Andrade was trying to leave dents every time she landed. A strong side kick from Silva forced Andrade back in the middle of a barrage of hands from the former champion. Andrade stayed with it and landed an impressive superman punch to end the round.
Round 2: Silva came out firing kicks to the calf and then up top. Andrade is not moving back however. She’ll eat shots to land a nuclear punch. Every time Andrade got close to land however Silva would clinch and land knees up the middle.
Andrade attacked the body, but then ate a big shot from Silva that rocked her. It was Silva then putting some pressure on until Andrade recovered.
Round 3: Andrade should have come out with more urgency, but Silva stayed on her game. A quick wardrobe malfunction on Silva’s part stopped the action momentarily, but then got back to landing heavy shots on Andrade. Andrade, no longer being able to cut the cage off, chased Silva around the cage.
Silva started to style on Andrade landing all kinds of kicks with shades of some Michelle Waterson-type jab kicks. The rest of the round was a Silva clinic and the fight ended with the two embracing as the seconds ticked away.
Result: Natalia Silva def. Jessica Andrade via Unanimous Decision (30-27×3)
