Angela Hill is back in the UFC and right back in the deep end of the swimming pool.
UFC 207 was supposed to feature a battle between strawweight contenders Jessica Andrade and Maryna Moroz, but Moroz dropped from the event on Tuesday (h/t Guilherme Cruz of MMA Fighting).
First reported by Ana Hissa of Combate and later confirmed by Fox Sports’ Damon Martin, Hill will leave behind Invicta FC and her Invicta title to return to the UFC to take on Andrade. Hill was cut from the roster after back-to-back losses to Tecia Torres and Rose Namajunas in 2015.
Woo! @AngieOverkill is back in the UFC? Can't wait to see the awesome bouts that come from that! Very well deserved promotion.
— Iain Kidd (@iainkidd) December 7, 2016
Angela Hill's fights under the UFC Banner. Carla Esparza (TUF), Emily Kagan, Tecia Torres, Rose Namajunas, now Jessica Andrade.
— Paul Shaughnessy (@PaulShag) December 7, 2016
In 2016, Hill went to Invicta and ran through her competition. She showed off her crisp striking and revamped takedown defense en route to a stunning championship performance. Hill defended her belt in November against Kaline Medeiros.
Andrade dropped to strawweight after losing to Raquel Pennington in 2015. She debuted in June against former Invicta atomweight champion Jessica Penne. Andrade battered her. The Brazilian submitted Joanne Calderwood without much issue and now sits as the No. 5-ranked contender in the division per the official UFC rankings.
Given the dominance of Joanna Jedrzejczyk and the current status of Andrade and Hill’s trajectory, this very well could end up with the winner challenging for the strawweight championship in 2017. It is a big time matchup between two fantastic strikers.
The new bout of Andrade vs. Hill has not yet been assigned to a spot on the card. UFC 207 takes place on December 30 with Ronda Rousey’s return headlining the bill.
