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Marc Raimondi, ESPN Staff Writer
One of the biggest non-title fights at strawweight the UFC can make will go down this summer.
Former UFC women’s strawweight champion Jessica Andrade will face the undefeated Tatiana Suarez in the co-main event of UFC Nashville on Aug. 5, the promotion announced Tuesday. Suarez was initially scheduled to face Virna Jandiroba, but Jandiroba suffered a torn ligament in her knee that could keep her out quite a while, according to Jandiroba’s manager Tiago Okamura.
In the UFC’s contender rankings, Andrade is ranked No. 5 and Suarez is No. 10 at 115 pounds.
Andrade (24-11) will try to snap a two-fight losing streak. The Brazilian-born fighter is coming off a knockout loss to Yan Xiaonan at UFC 288 last month. Andrade, 31, beat Rose Namajunas to win the UFC women’s strawweight title in 2019. She has the second-most wins in women’s UFC history (15).
Suarez (9-0) returned from nearly four years out due to injuries in February with a second-round submission win over Montana De La Rosa in the flyweight division. The California native won “The Ultimate Fighter” at strawweight back in 2016 but has fought just five times since because of injury issues. Suarez, 32, nearly made the 2012 U.S. wrestling Olympics team but had to withdraw because of a neck injury and thyroid cancer.
UFC Nashville will be headlined by a bantamweight contest between striker Cory Sandhagen and rising prospect Umar Nurmagomedov, the cousin of former pound-for-pound king Khabib Nurmagomedov.