Former UFC strawweight champion, Jessica Andrade, is back in action this weekend at UFC 288. She is set to fight Yan Xiaonan on the main card of the much-anticipated PPV which is set to go down on May 6. The event will see the return of former UFC double champ Henry Cejudo, who will take on the current bantamweight champ, Aljamain Sterling.
Andrade, who moves up and down between flyweight and strawweight, will fight in the 115 lbs division at UFC 288. In her previous contest, she took on Erin Blanchfield in the main event of a UFC Fight Night card on February 18. She lost the bout via a rear-naked choke submission in round 2. Hence, she would be desperate to get back to winning ways. However, fans can expect to see some drastic changes in the fight this Saturday.
Jessica Andrade reveals wardrobe malfunction led to her loss against Erin Blanchfield
Jessica Andrade recently made an appearance in front of the journalists for UFC 288 media day. During her interaction, Andrade made a huge claim regarding her last fight. The Umuarana (Brazil) native added that she was unable to fully focus on her bout against Erin Blanchfield. During the fight, Jessica kept giving her back to Erin, which seemed odd to many, considering her elite grappling skills.
Hence, many wondered what caused her to fight in such a passive manner. Andrade finally revealed the reason and it was a wardrobe malfunction. According to Jessica, her sports bra kept “running,” which distracted her immensely and allowed Erin to take advantage. Hence, she is not going to wear a sports bra starting from her UFC 288 fight this weekend.
Speaking about it, Jessica expressed her concern about the same thing happening and added. “Yes, especially because of the weight now. It’s even lower… I had the extra small and asked to make it really tight. I don’t want it to happen. I don’t want anything to be running. I don’t want anything to be exposed. Do not worry. I’m gonna even look fat a little bit. You’re gonna see some fat coming from (some spots), it’s gonna be so tight.” (h/t via MMA Junike)
She will wear a Venum dry-fit shirt for the bout against Yan and it will perhaps eliminate the chance of her suffering another such unfortunate incident. It is an important fight for Andrade’s career, considering she is 31 years of age. On top of that, Yan is currently ranked 6th in the strawweight division. Hence, a victory over her would be a major step toward securing a rematch against the current champ Zhang Weili.
Weili became the champ for the first time in August 2019, when she TKO’ed Jessica in Shenzhen, China to become the first Chinese UFC champion. However, to get the rematch, The Brazilian has to get past Yan Xiaonan at UFC 288, which goes down this weekend inside the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.