LAS VEGAS – If the UFC ever decides to add a women’s BMF belt to its trophy case, Jessica Andrade has little doubt she’d be a prime candidate for one of the inaugural fighters for it.
She also has a few ideas about the types of opponents who could stand across from her if that ever happened. Saturday at UFC 300 (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+), the BMF belt is on the line between Justin Gaethje and Max Holloway. It’s a ceremonial belt of sorts to honor the toughest – the “baddest motherf*cker” – in the sport.
Andrade (25-12 MMA, 16-10 UFC), a former women’s strawweight champion, fights Marina Rodriguez (17-3-2 MMA, 7-3-2 UFC) on the prelims at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“I was talking yesterday about this very subject,” Andrade said through a translator at Wednesday’s media day. “I was like, ‘What if the UFC actually had a BMF for the women? I just don’t consider myself like all these names in such tough fighters that I would be considered in this category.’ And he told me, ‘Are you kidding me? You’re crazy. You just go out there and put on bangers. You’re always just swinging for the fences.’
“I would love to have that opportunity. That would be really cool. I’m just thinking of who would be the opponent because you’ve got Valentina Shevchenko. You have Zhang Weili. You have Amanda (Nunes), if she decided to come back. Angela Hill … it would be an amazing thing. I hope that UFC consider me in the pool of candidates for something like that – it would be really awesome if the UFC had a BMF female.
For now, she’ll have to shoot for the type of performance that might convince the UFC brass to put together a women’s BMF fight. This past November, Andrade snapped a three-fight skid with a second-round bonus-winning knockout of Mackenzie Dern.
You can watch Andrade’s full media day session in the video above.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 300.
Jessica Andrade makes case for women’s BMF title – and has a list of potential opponents