Andrade bullies her way to unanimous decision over Torres
Feel free to color Jessica Andrade the UFC's preeminent strawweight contender once more.
In what was expected to determine the next challenger-in-waiting to the 115-pound throne, Andrade rode her wrestling and endless motor to a unanimous decision victory over Tecia Torres in UFC on FOX 28's co-main event in Orlando on Saturday.
The Brazilian buzzsaw improved to 5-1 since moving down from bantamweight in June 2016 with her second straight sweep of the scorecards - the first coming at Claudia Gadelha's expense this past September.
Tecia Torres is connecting #UFCOrlando pic.twitter.com/onlFRt5OIq
— UFC India (@UFCIndia) February 25, 2018
As expected, Andrade walked Torres down and let the leather rip while the latter worked from the outside and handily outlanded Andrade with the 1-2 in the early going. Torres' patented prolific output had Andrade pursuing takedowns late in Round 1, and while the slam she landed to close out the frame amounted to bubkus, it gave a glimpse of what was to come in the latter two stanzas.
E LÁ VAMOS NÓS! ⬇⬇⬇@JessicaMMAPro #UFCOrlando pic.twitter.com/h7g6aIJJpn
— UFC Brasil (@ufc_brasil) February 25, 2018
On sheer will and otherworldly strength, Andrade repeatedly scooped Torres up and slammed her to the canvas in a flawless impression of the Quinton "Rampage" Jackson of old, and while she failed to parlay the takedowns into sustained top control, they were enough to tie the pair up on the scorecards heading into the third.
The Brazilian only wrestled Torres to the canvas once more in the final round, but this time, she kept her pinned there with smothering top control to secure the one-sided verdict and cement herself as the rightful challenger to the title she fell short of stripping from Joanna Jedrzejczyk in May.
The decision halted Torres' three-fight win streak and dropped her promotional record to 6-2.