After the absolute bloodbath of a fight between her and Claudia Gadelha, Jessica Andrade was pushed to the number one contender slot in the UFC strawweight rankings. It would have been a four-fight win streak for Andrade, had she not have fought Joanna Jedrzejczyk just before. However, that’s a rematch that is just within arm’s length for the young Brazilian. Another shot at that belt would get a lot closer if Jessica Andrade beats third-ranked former title challenger, Karolina Kowalkiewicz.

“I was expecting more of Karolina [Kowalkiewicz]. I expected her to knock [Esquibel] out, something like that. Her opponent had just gotten into the UFC and she was in the top five. She should have shown more spirit to finish the fight. I think it would be a really good fight [with me and Kowalkiewicz]. That’s what I’m after: tough fights. My goal is to fight those who are at the top to get a chance to fight for the belt. Karolina is a good choice. She was not hurt. She might be able to fight again soon.”

“I trained to put on a good performance [against Claudia Gadelha]. I was coming off a defeat, so I had to come back with a good showing. I hoped it would be a much harder fight. She always puts on great fights and she is very tough. It was always going to be a very difficult and competitive fight, but then, at the end of the first round, I saw that I could impose my game on her and that she was getting tired. I trained to frustrate her in all areas and everything went well. But I figured it would be harder, yes, that she would have more gas.” – Jessica Andrade speaking to FloCombat.

It seems that Jessica Andrade and Joanna Jedrzejczyk are still on a collision course, unless the champ decides to challenge the soon-to-be crowned women’s UFC flyweight title holder. As dominant as Joanna Jedrzejczyk has been, she’s bound to have to start rematching more opponents. Joanna Jedrzejczyk defends her title against fourth-ranked Rose Namajunas at UFC 217.

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 10/28/2017.