Jessica Andrade's plan to be first to beat UFC champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk? Unrelenting pressure

With an unblemished professional record that includes four consecutive title defenses, champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk has been dominantly ruling the UFC’s strawweight division for two years.

But her fifth title challenger is confident she has the missing ingredient to be the one to break through Jedrzejczyk’s (13-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) invincibility shield. Set to face the Polish champ at UFC 211 on May 13, Jessica Andrade (16-5 MMA, 7-3 UFC) said she knows where Jedrzejczyk’s previous opponents made mistakes.

And that’s where her own skillset comes in.

“Joanna is very fast, very agile, and her gas tank is almost infinite,” Andrade told MMAjunkie. “She’s a high-level athlete, and I’m looking forward to fighting her. But we know she has a weaker chin, and if you land hard and keep going with the same volume, you may win.

“My difference to the other opponents is that they managed to get to her, but when they did they backed away, they didn’t advance, and that’s the good part of my game: I hit them, and I keep going forward. And the person can hit me, and I’ll keep going too. (The others) let her find her game. And I won’t. I’ll impose my own game and try to win the fight my way.”

Andrade’s criticism of the champ’s chin is not new. Before Jedrzejczyk’s most recent title defense, a five-round effort against a game Karolina Kowalkiewicz, the Brazilian said fellow countrywoman and former title challenger Claudia Gadelha helped expose “lot of gaps” in the Polish titleholder’s game.

“(Jedrzejczyk) was knocked down with a jab,” Andrade had said mockingly. “Who gets knocked down with a jab?”

Ranked No. 5 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA strawweight rankings (Jedrzejczyk is No. 1), Andrade has reasons to be confident as far as her own game goes. Unbeaten since moving down to strawweight, she finished two opponents before going the distance against Angela Hill in an exciting battle that earned “Fight of the Night” honors at last month’s UFC Fight Night 104 event.

At only 25, she’s also been in 10 octagon outings, making her the most active female since women were introduced to the UFC in 2014. That regularity has remained even after the 20-pound drop for her division change, and she would have fought three times in less than seven months had she not lost her UFC 207 opponent (first Maryna Moroz, then Hill) before being re-scheduled.

This kind of activity inevitably means spending a lot of time at the gym in Rio de Janeiro and, incidentally, away from her close-knit family in Southern Brazil. But with two months to go for her first UFC title shot, Andrade prefers the constant grind.

“I actually like it when they’re back-to-back fights, so I don’t lose rhythm,” Andrade said. “I got a chance to rest, to visit my family. I had my time to rest and get back to training. It think the faster the better, so we’re always used to the adrenalin and the anxiety. I like it.”

As for the weight, Andrade said that thanks to a new approach to her diet, making the cut as a 115-pounder is actually easier than it was before. Now, after using her brief off-camp periods to support her junk-food habit, she has little trouble getting back on track.

“I thought when I first started getting my weight down, that it was going to be harder,” Andrade said. “But as time went on, and I did my first, second, third fight, I noticed it’s not that hard to make the weight, and 115 really is my division.

“When I fought at 135, I still had to go in the tub and sauna, and now I make the weight only with the diet and training. It works out. I get there super strong and super fast.”

If she does manage to end Jedrzejczyk’s dominant reign, Andrade will be a rather accomplished 25-year-old. But while that would be a turning point in her career, it will by no means mean its peak. In spite of her successful run this far, Andrade still sees herself as an apprentice in many ways.

And that, she said, is one of her best assets.

“I think I’m constantly evolving,” Andrade said. “I’m still a jiu-jitsu purple belt. I’m a dark blue in muay Thai, brown in kickboxing, but I have a lot to evolve. I think winning the belt will be highlight of my career, and I’ll keep working and training to keep the belt. But I have a lot to evolve, and I think that’s great. If I get the belt now, when I don’t know that much yet, I’ll learn even more to keep it for a long time.”

Unlike colleagues who use their UFC leverage to land acting gigs and make the most of their time under the spotlight, Andrade has no aspirations other than to keep fighting and helping provide for her family, which still lives in the rural area of Umuarama, Parana, where she grew up. Other than that, she wants to afford her own house.

While a UFC belt would certainly mean a bump up when it comes to reaping financial fruits, it may also mean having some extra difficulty walking around the small town in which Andrade already finds herself being somewhat of a celebrity.

“When I come home, I can barely walk on the streets,” Andrade said. “I spend most of the time at my parents, at the farm, than at the city, because I can’t walk (around). Everyone knows me. If we go some place to eat, have dinner, everyone wants to take pictures. But it’s great.

“It takes a bit of our privacy, but it’s great to know that there are people who like you and have that contact. And for my family, it’s great to see that I have a profession and that I’m admired by so many fans who enjoy watching me.”

For more on UFC 211, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.