After agreeing to replace Katlyn
Chookagian against Manon
Fiorot at UFC Fight Night 209 in Paris on Sept. 3, Jessica
Andrade was forced to withdraw from the event due to a
herniated disc in her back.
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Sherdog.com confirmed the news with Andrade’s head trainer,
Gilliard Parana. Chookagian has since agreed to step back in take
the fight against Fiorot following Andrade’s exit.
“She [Andrade] started to feel very strong pain in her back and
after examination, the physiotherapist of [the UFC Performance
Institute] told her to rest for three weeks,” Parana said. “That
would mean less than one month of camp to prepare for such a
tough challenge, so we decided to leave the card and focus
100% on the healing process.”
According to Parana, even though Andrade is in the UFC rankings at
both flyweight and strawweight, her primary focus is 115
pounds.
“The UFC knows they can count on us, but we believe Jessica’s ideal
division is strawweight,” Parana said. “There are great matchups to
make. With all the structure and support we have here at the Las
Vegas PI, I have no doubt that soon she will be the queen of that
division.”