The UFC has booked a potential title eliminator in their women’s flyweight division for October 17th. Top ranked, Katlyn Chookagian (14-3), will be taking on Jessica Andrade (20-8). The fight was first reported by MMA Junkie.
For Andrade, she will be making her flyweight debut. Much like Cynthia Calvillo did earlier this year, Andrade will be going straight to the top of the UFC‘s flyweight division in her first contest at the new weight.
Katlyn Chookagian welcomes Jessica Andrade to flyweight at Oct. 17 UFC event (@guicruzzz) https://t.co/wfg3GMVrJh pic.twitter.com/OFvXhgNt6s
— MMA Fighting (@MMAFighting) September 1, 2020
UFC Title Eliminator?
Chookagian will enter the octagon on October 17th as the UFC‘s top ranked flyweight. She is coming off of a dominant win over Antonina Shevchenko back in May. Chookagian is 3-1 in her last four fights with a win over the next title challenger, Jennifer Maia. Her only defeat has come at the hands of the champion, Valentina Shevchenko.
The former UFC strawweight champion, Andrade, finally feels like she found her natural weight class. The former champ has lost two fights in a row, but they were to the current strawweight champion and a former strawweight champion. The Namajunas loss was razor close.
Andrade used to fight at 135 pounds in the UFC. She was always the smallest so when the UFC started the strawweight division, she moved down 20 pounds. Many people believed 125 was her ideal weight, but she was able to capture gold at strawweight.
With the weight class move, Andrade is hoping to once again become UFC champion. Given her championship status and the fact that Chookagian is the top ranked contender, one has to believe that the winner will face the winner of Shevchenko – Maia at UFC 255.