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Former UFC Strawweight Champion Jessica Andrade has had a mixed 2019. In her home country Brazil earlier in the year, she defeated Rose Namajunas to become the 115-pound Champion.
However, she ended up losing it in her first title defense to Chinese sensation Weili Zhang in the latter's home country of China. Now that she lost the title, she's on the road to regaining it and has vowed to become a champion again.
One fight that interests her is Michelle Waterson, who is coming off a defeat to Joanna Jedrzejczyk. Speaking to MMA Fighting, she said:
"Waterson just fought against Joanna, and there’s also Angela Hill, which would be a rematch.”
“But she’s (Hill) coming off a win, so I don’t know if the UFC would book this fight. (Waterson) would definitely interest me, but since she just fought, I don’t know if she would be down to fighting again so quickly. That would be more for January or February.”
She expressed her desire to fight again at the end of the year, even if it's at UFC Busan. She reflected on her loss to Weili Zhang at China and knows what went wrong:
“I was super well-trained and prepared, but her hand landed first. The fight started, and I connected a few strikes and she moved backward. That’s when I thought, ‘That’s it, I got her,’ and when I went back to that super-aggressive-Jessica, throwing hands at will, that’s when she landed. She got me nice on the chin and rocked me. She was better than me."
While she admitted the feeling of bitterness when seeing the belt around Zhang's waist, that hasn't stopped her from remaining positive. She knows what she has already achieved and her mentors reminded her of the happier times as well - and the fact that nobody can take her achievements away from her.
In her opinion, Zhang vs Joanna is the fight to make for the title and predicted that Zhang would beat the Polish star. She believes that Zhang's hard kicks and preference to stay on the feet won't work out well for Joanna stylistically.
