As far as the betting lines go, Jessica Andrade is the favorite heading into a UFC 237 title match with champ Rose Namajunas on May 11.

Andrade is aware of that fact – after all, people have been making sure to point it out to her. And she’s is not in an entirely new position, either, having entered her previous two meetings, against Karolina Kowalkiewicz and Tecia Torres, as a betting favorite as well.

This time, Andrade will have the home advantage, with the title match set to take place at Jeunesse Arena, in her longtime home of Rio de Janeiro. Like she did in her previous bouts, though, Andrade is going into this one with the belief that she is the underdog.

“I have to fight for real, that I have to give it my best, because there’s no such thing as a favorite,” Andrade told MMAjunkie Radio in her native Portuguese. “Each fight is a fight. At one point, she can land a hand and I might fall, like what happened with Joanna, and it can change everything. So I go in there thinking I’m not the favorite, and that I have to give it my best in there.”

Who’s to fault Andrade for her attitude, when it’s been paying dividends. In the aforementioned meetings with Torres and Kowalkiewicz, for instance, Andrade came out with dominant wins – via unanimous decision and first-round knockout, respectively.

The wins, which followed an upset decision win over longtime contender and fellow countrywoman Claudia Gadelha, credentialed Andrade to try her hand at the strawweight title for a second time, after a failed attempt against then-undefeated Joanna Jedrzejczyk.

Namajunas, in turn, defends her belt for the second time after taking it from Jedrzejczyk in a massive upset and keeping it in their rematch.

The so-called “MMA math” clearly didn’t translate to the betting lines here, as Andrade is still the favorite despite having lost to someone whom Namajunas beat twice. But the Brazilian, herself, does keep that particular common opponent in mind going into the match.

“Everyone’s saying I’m the favorite, that I have more chances at beating Namajunas because of our styles,” Andrade said. “Because I have more strength, because I’m able to to get the fight to the fence, to grapple, to get it to the ground and to work the ground and pound. But I’m going in as the underdog. For me, she beat Joanna and I didn’t. So I go in as the person who’s still looking for the win.”

Andrade (19-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) and Namajunas (8-3 MMA, 6-2 UFC) have different strengths and backgrounds but, in a way, they share similar trajectories in the octagon.

Be it due to their styles or established backgrounds, women like like Jedrzejczyk and Gadelha already started their UFC runs branded as forces to be reckoned with. Andrade and Namajunas, on the other hand, had to truly prove themselves before being acknowledged as true menaces in the strawweight division.

“Evolution” is a word often used to describe both champion and challenger and one that Andrade has no problem acknowledging in her opponent. The Brazilian, however, trusts her own ever-evolving skillset, as well as her ability to learn from past mistakes, to make a difference against “Thug” Rose.

“I believe Rose has been evolving a lot in her last fights,” Andrade said. “If you look at her first fights in the UFC and compare to the last ones, you can see the tremendous evolution she’s had in the division. I think you can see that both on the striking and on the ground.

“But I believe I can do very well in both areas. I’ve been training for that, to not leave any holes, because Joanna had a chance to walk and find her distance, and hit and leave. Probably, Rose will want to do the same. And I’ve trained for that and I won’t let it happen.”

Looking at Andrade’s resume, it’s easy to forget she’s only 27. In 2013, she became the first Brazilian woman to ever compete in the octagon. Despite being clearly undersized against bantamweight competition, Andrade managed to beat names like future title challenger Raquel Pennington and veteran Rosi Sexton before dropping 20 pounds and starting the most successful stretch of her career.

A win over Namajunas would make Andrade Brazil’s first UFC strawweight champion and would add a lot of weight to a name that’s already gotten a fair level of recognition in her home country.

As far as women in MMA goes, though, Andrade has some big shoes to fill. After all, fellow UFC pioneer Amanda Nunes has just made history as the UFC’s first female champ-champ after massively upsetting another Brazilian great in Cris Cyborg.

This, Andrade acknowledges, means she’s got some work to do when it comes to stablishing herself as a great. But that doesn’t mean she can’t get there some day.

“I believe that, climbing step by step, one day I will have the title of greatest female fighter in Brazil,” Andrade said. “But we have Amanda Nunes, who has two belts and is making history both in the UFC and in MMA, so I think I still have a lot of work. Who knows, maybe if I win three belts I will surpass her.”

For more on UFC 237, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.

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