Jessica Andrade and Tecia Torres set off on a torrid pace in their UFC on FOX 28 co-main event on Saturday night.
Andrade chased after Torres from the outset. Torres met her with sharp counters that found the mark. The two would reset and the scene would usually repeat.
Things went this way until Andrade’s size and strength advantage wore Torres down and turned the fight her way. After 15 minutes of excellent action, Andrade emerged victorious. The judges scores for the strawweight bout at Orlando’s Amway Center were 29-27 and a pair of 29-28s for Andrade via unanimous decision.
“I trained really hard for this fight,” Andrade said. “I hope I get performance of the night.”
Torres had her strongest round in the first, landing the more solid shots. But Andrade, a former bantamweight started landing frequent takedowns as she wore her opponent down. By the third, Torres was visibly tired, but Andrade, who tightened her striking as the fight went on, seemed to be just getting warmed up, keeping the pressure on until the final horn.
“I know she’s a very tough fighter,” Andrade said through an interpreter. “I knew [it would be] a very tough fight, I knew If I could swing with her I’d take her down.”
The Brazilian Andrade (18-6) is now 5-1 since going down to strawweight, with her only loss in that span to then-champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk. Torres had a three-fight win streak snapped.
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