Jessica Andrade no longer competing at UFC 207: Nunes vs. Rousey

By Damon Martin, Damon Martin

Published January 31, 2017

INGLEWOOD, CA - JUNE 04: Jessica Andrade of Brazil punches Jessica Penne in their women's strawweight bout during the UFC 199 event at The Forum on June 4, 2016 in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

Jessica Andrade won't be fighting at UFC 207 after all.

The No. 5 ranked strawweight had been booked for the Dec. 30 card in a fight against Maryna Moroz, but when she fell out due to injury it left the UFC scrambling for another option.

Invicta FC strawweight champion Angela Hill was tapped as a replacement, but unfortunately because of her previous stint in the UFC she was required to undergo four months of drug testing by USADA per the promotion's anti-doping policy before being allowed to return.

With Moroz and Hill both eliminated as options, the UFC ran out of time to find an opponent for Andrade, who has officially been pulled from the card in Las Vegas.

The flyweight battle between Louis Smolka and Ray Borg has been bumped up to the main card with that fight now kicking off the pay-per-view from the T-Mobile Arena.

Andrade was looking to cap off a very successful year after dropping down to 115 pounds following her initial stint in the UFC as a bantamweight.

Andrade tore through former title contender Jessica Penne in June before submitting Joanne Calderwood at UFC 203 in September. It appeared that Andrade was knocking on the door of title contention with another win, but it seems she'll have to wait on that chance until next year.

UFC 207 now moves forward with an 11 bout card headlined by Ronda Rousey's return as she faces women's bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes in the main event. Meanwhile, former welterweight champion Johny Hendricks faces Neil Magny in the featured prelim on FS1 starting at 8 p.m. ET on Dec. 30.

URL

https://www.foxnews.com/sports/jessica-andrade-no-longer-competing-at-ufc-207-nunes-vs-rousey