Rose Namajunas out of UFC 249 co-main event against Jessica Andrade

Rose Namajunas | Esther Lin, MMA Fighting

The co-main event at UFC 249 has taken a major hit as former strawweight champion Rose Namajunas has been forced out of her upcoming rematch against Jessica Andrade.

Multiple sources close to the contest confirmed the information to MMA Fighting on Wednesday following an initial report from Combate.

At this time there’s been no reason revealed for Namajunas’ withdrawal but she will not be competing on April 18 as scheduled.

With Namajunas out, Andrade will now wait to find out if the UFC can secure her a last minute opponent for the card. Andrade and her team had already traveled from Brazil to the United States to avoid any possible restrictions that could come as a result of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

“We’ll fight anyone,” Andrade’s manager Tiago Okamura said in a statement sent to MMA Fighting. “Flyweight, bantamweight, featherweight. Whatever it is, we’re in. We won’t go back home without a fight.”

The fight was supposed to serve as a rematch from their first meeting at UFC 237 last May.

Andrade defeated Namajunas that night to become UFC strawweight champion when she landed a vicious slam in the second round that stopped the fight. She lost her belt to current champ Zhang Weili this past August and Andrade was seeking to get back on track with the rematch against Namajunas.

Now it looks like Andrade will just have to hold out hope that the UFC can secure her a new opponent with just over a week to go until the event takes place.