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Jessica Andrade Drops to Strawweight to Fight Jessica Penne at UFC 199

Jessica Andrade Drops to Strawweight to Fight Jessica Penne at UFC 199

After struggling to crack the title picture at bantamweight, Jessica Andrade drops to 115 pounds to face Jessica Penne at UFC 199 on June 4 in Los Angeles. UFC officials announced the bout on Thursday.

Andrade (13-5) started strong in the Octagon, winning three of her first four fights. She has since gone 1-2, thus making the decision to give strawweight a go. She'll be dropping a full 20 pounds to make the shift in weight classes.

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Penne (12-3) is at the opposite end of the spectrum. She is a former Invicta FC atomweight champion, where she weighed in at 105 pounds. Penne made her way to the Octagon via The Ultimate Fighter, defeating Randa Markos on the show's finale.

She later stepped up on short notice to face strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk for the belt, but Penne was unsuccessful, losing via third-round TKO stoppage. Andrade marks her first step back towards title contention.

The UFC 199 headliner features middleweight champion Luke Rockhold putting his belt on the line in an immediate rematch with former titleholder Chris Weidman at The Forum. In the night's co-main event in Los Angeles, Dominick Cruz puts his bantamweight belt on the line in his trilogy bout with former WEC champion Urijah Faber.

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