Two of the top women’s flyweight fighters in the world will meet in Brazil.
Former UFC women’s strawweight champion Jessica Andrade will face Lauren Murphy at UFC 283 on Jan. 21 in Rio de Janeiro, sources confirmed to ESPN on Tuesday. MMA Fighting first reported the news.
Andrade is ranked No. 9 on ESPN’s pound-for-pound women’s MMA list. At flyweight, Andrade is ranked No. 3 and Murphy is No. 4.
Andrade (23-9) has won two straight and three of four with the only loss in that stretch coming to flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko. The Brazilian-born fighter held the UFC women’s strawweight title in 2019. Andrade, 31, is the only woman in UFC history to win fights in three different weight classes.
Murphy (16-5) is coming off a unanimous decision win over former women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate in July. The Alaska-born fighter, who lives in Texas, has won six of her past seven fights with the only loss during that stretch coming in a title fight against Shevchenko. Murphy, 39, is 7-3 since starting her UFC run with two straight losses.