Jessica Andrade says she fought so often in 2023 to pay for her divorce: “I had to spend a lot of money with lawyers”

Jessica Andrade has opened up on why she fought so often in 2023.

Andrade started the year off in January with a decision win over Lauren Murphy. She then returned in February and lost by second-round submission to Erin Blanchfield. After the setback, she fought for the third time in 2023 in May and suffered a first-round TKO loss to Yan Xiaonan. After the loss to Xiaonan, she returned in August and suffered a second-round submission loss to Tatiana Suarez, putting her on a three-fight losing streak.

Although Andrade has fought four times already in 2023, she’s booked for her fifth fight at UFC 295 against Mackenzie Dern. Jessica Andrade says she wanted to be as active as possible this year as he’s going through a divorce which has been costly.

“This year I had my divorce that has taken a lot of my money in paying for lawyers and things here and there, so I ended up taking five fights,” Andrade said on MMA Fighting’s Trocação Franca podcast. “It will be over this year, God willing, and I’ll be fine. [I fought five times in 2023] because of that, because of the divorce. I had to spend a lot of money with lawyers in Brazil, it’s too much bureaucracy.”

Jessica Andrade also admits that some of the losses may have come because she wasn’t 100 percent invested in them, and rather was focused on just making money.

After losing three straight fights, Andrade knows she could be fighting for her job against Mackenzie Dern at UFC 295. With that, Andrade says she’s as motivated as ever to return to the win column in a big way.

“Poor Mackenzie, it’s on her now,” Andrade said. “This pressure of possibly losing four in a row is complicated. I lost three straight, and I can’t let that happen. I’m hungrier than ever. I’m on a different moment in my career that is making me think about the things that are priority for me. This is my 27th UFC fight and I have to change my game; I have to change my strategy to surprise my opponents.”

Jessica Andrade enters her UFC 295 fight against Mackenzie Dern as a +170 underdog.