This past Saturday at UFC Fight Island 6, the co-main event of the evening featured a fight between two top flyweight contenders. Former title challenger, Katlyn Chookagian (14-4), was welcoming the former UFC strawweight champion, Jessica Andrade (21-8) to flyweight.
Despite having fought at bantamweight during her UFC career, Andrade was at a big size disadvantage. However, Chookagian wasn’t able to really use that size advantage to her advantage in this fight.
Andrade was able to take Chookagian down a couple of times including one big slam during the first round. In addition to the takedowns, Andrade was able to land some big leg kicks that buckled the former title challenger. Andrade looked great in the first round.
Chookagian was caught with a massive hook to the body that sent her spinning to the other side of the cage. Andrade followed up with more vicious hooks to the body that finished the fight. A crushing defeat for Chookagian at UFC Fight Island 6.
What’s next after UFC Fight Island 6?
For Chookagian, it will be back to the UFC drawing board. She was coming off of a dominant victory over Antonina Shevchenko in her last fight, and a victory over the former UFC strawweight champion would’ve given her a good case for a rematch with Valentina Shevchenko.
However, Chookagian was dominated by Andrade. Chookagian has been flirting with retirement due to her desire to start a family. However, she said that she still has a goal and dream to become a UFC champion.
Chookagian has stated that once she leaves the sport to start a family, she will not be coming back. That said, Chookagian is going to need a big win in her next fight to try to get back into UFC title contention.
Perhaps a fight with Cynthia Calvillo or a fight with Lauren Murphy could be next for Chookagian. Those two were supposed to fight at UFC 254, however, Calvillo fell out of the fight. If Murphy wins, perhaps the UFC looks to book her against Chookagian or they book Calvillo with Chookagian.