Jessica Andrade Says She’s Staying at Strawweight After UFC 199 Win

Jessica Andrade spoke with MMAjunkie about her win over Jessica Penne at UFC 199 and more. Some highlights are below:

On sticking at strawweight: “I’m here to stay. When I fought at 135, I felt different, weaker. Now I feel very strong and confident about my height, my reach, everything. I’m sure in this new division, I’m going to get many knockouts and many submissions.”

On why it took so long to drop down: “When I first started, this division didn’t exist. And then, I was scared I’d lose power and speed. So I postponed it until the loss to Raquel (Pennington). That was the turning point. She was much heavier, and I gassed out, which had never happened. So I thought it’d be worth the shot in the lower division. Thankfully, it worked. I was worried about the weight, but it went very well. My power remained the same. And the speed increased. So now it’s perfect.”

On California’s new weigh-in rules with added recovery time and a smaller dehydration period: “I hope all weigh-ins are like this. I think that’s why the (UFC 199) fights were so good … because we had recovery time. We had the right time to eat and rehydrate, so we could fight the same way we practice. I think that was essential for me to go in there and put on a great fight.”