Jessica Andrade is one of the most accomplished women in UFC history.
“Bate Estaca” has been with the promotion for 13 years and 30 bouts, which ties Angela Hill for most female fights in promotional history. With 17 wins in that span, she also holds the record for most UFC wins in women’s history. Andrade has won six “Performance of the Night” bonuses as well as five “Fight of the Night” awards, which equates to the most post-fight bonuses in UFC Women’s history as well.
Oh yeah, Andrade also became
the undisputed UFC champion by slamming Rose Namajunas through the canvas back in 2019 (watch here).
All of this is to say: Andrade is a badass former champion who has fought just about everybody over the last decade. It’s a little surprising, therefore, to learn that Andrade has turned to app-based food delivery and other odd jobs to make ends meet while dealing with a shoulder injury.
She’s been out of action for less than a year.
“Thank God I managed to save some money, so things are going well,” Andrade explained (via MMA Fighting). “But whenever I need to, I work as a delivery driver. I deliver meals and things like that. I just pick up orders through an app and make the deliveries. I do whatever it takes. I’m not afraid of hard work, I can do just about anything.”
She continued, “Recently I started a project at [a friend’s] house, installing artificial turf. Her backyard was nothing but rocks. I went there and removed all the rocks from the ground. I thought, ‘I’ll give this a try. If I’m good at it, it’s one more way we can make some extra money whenever we need it.’”
There are many reasons to be critical of how the UFC pays its athletes, but there may be more than first meets the eye here. First and foremost, Andrade sued her former coach and manager for allegedly embezzling more than $2 million from her accounts. At one point, Andrade was selling her fight gear because she couldn’t secure many sponsorships. Back in 2021, Andrade began a lucrative OnlyFans account. A couple years later, Andrade claims she was pressured into OnlyFans and hated every second of it.
Regardless, Andrade has bounced around Strawweight and Flyweight in recent years, struggling at 125 pounds. She’s lost three straight fights … but also knocked out current champion Mackenzie Dern just a few fights ago.
Hopefully, she’ll be able to return to the cage in the near future.
