Two former UFC women’s strawweight champions are reportedly set to run things back when the UFC hits Brooklyn in April for UFC 249.
According to ESPN’s Ariel Helwani, Rose Namajunas and Jessica Andrade will have a second go of it at the Barclays Center on 18 April.
Rose Namajunas vs. Jessica Andrade 2 is close to being finalized for UFC 249 on April 18 in Brooklyn, according to multiple sources.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) January 9, 2020
First time round, Andrade got the better of Namajunas at UFC 237 after a second-round slam knockout saw the Brazilian lift UFC gold for the first time.
However, Andrade’s reign as the UFC’s 115-pound didn’t last long.
112 days after her win over Namajunas, Andrade succumbed to a 42-second TKO loss to China’s Weili Zhang at UFC Fight Night 157 back in August of last year, snapping her four-fight win streak.
Namajunas, meanwhile, hasn’t competed since her loss to Andrade ended her run of three wins in a row in May 2019.
The Milwaukee native dazzled as she defeated the then-seemingly unbeatable UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 217 towards the end of 2017 to become champion, before comprehensively outpointing the Polish star in a rematch at UFC 223 five months later.
UFC 249 is set to be headlined by the long-awaited UFC lightweight championship clash between the unbeaten 155-pound king Khabib Nurmagomedov and ex-UFC interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson.