The UFC women’s strawweight title will be up for grabs this spring. That, plus another big fight has been added to UFC 235 in today’s MMA odds and ends.
Rose Namajunas vs. Jessica Andrade, UFC 237
The UFC women’s strawweight title will be on the line at UFC 237 when Rose Namajunas looks to defend her throne against Jessica Andrade. ESPN broke news of the bout, which takes place May 11 at a yet-to-be-determined location in Brazil. Namajunas (8-3) is coming off of back-to-back dominant wins over Joanna Jedrzejczyk. She has not fought since last April after dealing wth the effect of the Conor McGregor bus attack incident at UFC 223, so it’s good to see that she is ready to fight again. The division missed her, and will finally be able to start moving along again now that she’s back. Andrade (19-6) is 6-1 since her move to 115lbs and in her last fight landed a clean one-punch KO on Karolina Kowalkiewicz. As good as Namajunas has looked in the Octagon in her last couple of fights, Andrade has arguably looked even better as of late. I’m expecting a very competitive betting line here, with perhaps a slight lean towards the champ Namajunas. But I think Andrade is something special and my initial lean is for her to win the title.
Cody Garbrandt vs. Pedro Munhoz, UFC 235
A bantamweight bout between former champion Cody Garbrandt and Pedro Munhoz has been added to UFC 235, which takes place March 2 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Garbrandt (11-2) is coming off of back-to-back KO losses to TJ Dillashaw and desperately needs to get back in the win column if he wants to become a title contender again. Munhoz (17-3, 1 NC) is arguably the most underrated bantamweight in the UFC and is coming off of a first-round TKO win over Bryan Caraway. Though I expect Garbrandt to be the favorite here because he always seems to get a tremendous amount of respect from bettors, I think Munhoz has a very good chance of winning this fight. We know Garbrandt’s chin isn’t great and Munhoz has shown really improved striking in his last couple of fights. If Munhoz is around +200, I think that might be enough value to take a shot at him, but we will have to wait until the line comes out to say for sure.
Lando Vannata Re-Signs With UFC
A small note here as UFC lightweight Lando Vannata announced last week on his social media that he has re-upped a four-fight deal with the world’s top MMA promotion. Vannata (1-3-2) has a poor record inside the Octagon but he has fought a high level of competition and has won numerous “Fight of the Night” and “Performance of the Night” awards for his exciting style inside the cage. The UFC needs to get a win, though, and I’d expect the UFC to give him an easier opponent for his next bout, perhaps someone on a multi-fight losing streak near the bottom of the lightweight division. Or maybe we’ll see Vannata try to move to featherweight.
