Jessica Andrade issues statement following TKO loss to Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 261

Jessica Andrade released a statement following her second-round TKO loss to UFC women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 261.

Andrade, the former UFC women’s strawweight champion, earned herself a title shot at 125lbs following a knockout win over former title challenger Katlyn Chookagian last fall on Fight Island. Unfortunately for Andrade, she went up against an absolute terror in the form of Shevchenko, who absolutely dominated Andrade for as long as the fight lasted. Shevchenko was able to land seven takedowns during the fight and controlled Andrade on the ground with the crucifix position, before finishing the Brazilian with strikes for the TKO win.

Following her loss to the champ, Andrade took to her social media to issue a statement following what was her first official loss in the UFC women’s flyweight division.

https://www.instagram.com/p/COG-X1Lg2ZA/

Only those who fight lose! Yesterday was not our day, we moved on! Thank you for all the affection I have received, thank you master @gilliardparana and team @prvaletudo thank you to everyone who contributed to my Camp, we are going strong, better days will come!

Andrade will now have to decide what she wants to do going forward. She can stick around at 125lbs no problem, but it doesn’t feel like the path back to another title shot against Shevchenko will get any easier. Although Andrade did fight at 135lbs back in the day, a move back to women’s bantamweight also seems unrealistic given that she is on the smaller side. So perhaps she will consider moving back to 115lbs, where she does have a KO (Slam) win over current UFC women’s strawweight champion Rose Namajunas. It will be interesting to see what Andrade does following the most one-sided loss of her career.

What do you think is next for Jessica Andrade following her TKO loss to Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 261?