Ex-UFC champion working as delivery driver just 341 days after last bout as pay debate rumbles on

Former UFC champion Jessica Andrade has revealed how she’s had to work alongside her MMA career to earn “extra money”.

Andrade is a UFC veteran and has fought under the organisation’s banner 30 times since her debut appearance in 2013, winning 17 of those fights.

In 2019, the Brazilian defeated Rose Namajunas by second-round knockout to secure the UFC Women’s Strawweight Championship and earn a Performance of the Night bonus.

Despite also picking up multiple performance bonuses throughout her lengthy career, the 34-year-old, who last fought in August 2025, losing to Loopy Godinez, has admitted that she has been forced to take on work outside the Octagon.

In a wide-ranging interview with Brazilian MMA podcast Direto de Vegas, Andrade said she currently works as a delivery driver.

“I deliver meals and things like that. I just pick up orders through an app and make the deliveries,” she said.

“I do whatever it takes. I’m not afraid of hard work. I can do just about anything.”

READ NEXT: 'Everyone needs to shut the f*** up' - Paddy Pimblett lashes out at weight criticism after UFC 329

Andrade, who is currently recovering from injury, is on a three-fight losing streak. She has also suffered several issues in her personal life, forcing her to fight five times in 2023 to cover the costs of her divorce.

The South American has also undertaken landscaping work at a friend’s house to earn money.

She added: “Recently I started a project at [a friend’s] house, installing artificial turf.

“Her backyard was nothing but rocks. I went there and removed all the rocks from the ground. I thought, ‘I’ll give this a try. If I’m good at it, it’s one more way we can make some extra money whenever we need it.’”

Jessica Andrade opens up on OnlyFans account

In 2018, Andrade also revealed she had been selling her UFC merchandise to sort out an issue related to US income tax, which has since been resolved.

Three years later, Andrade started posting adult content on OnlyFans, with her earnings helping to pay bills and support her family in Brazil.

“I paid off my car and six or seven months of rent [in Las Vegas] in advance,” she said in an interview with MMA Fighting in 2021.

“I haven’t even used the money of my last fight’s purse. I was able to pay my bills in Brazil, help my family and help Fernanda’s family with OnlyFans’ money.

“It’s nice when you check your account and see the money is still there. You’re like, ‘My God, I’m buying a lot of stuff on Amazon, my house is like a market right now, and the account remains the same. … Even though the photos have leaked, it was only four or five photos.”

Andrade later quit OnlyFans in 2023, citing “childhood trauma” as part of the reason behind her decision.

“That was really bad for me. Because I have childhood traumas, stuff like abuse, and everything. When I did that (OnlyFans), I felt the same way,” she said at the time.

"I felt my hands were tied, I couldn’t react. Do you know when you freeze? It got very deep into my trauma. And I couldn’t say no. I never wanted to do this OnlyFans thing. I hated it, hated it. I had never spoken [about childhood abuse]. Only the closest people knew. Now the whole world will know. But it’s part of it.

"It was something that really traumatised me and I didn’t know how to say ‘no.’ It referred to me [to what I had experienced in childhood]. When the first pictures leaked it was really bad. Because I had to pretend that I was fine, and I wasn’t fine.”

UFC fighter pay has been a topic of debate in recent years, with the organisation giving just 20 per cent of its revenue to fighters – significantly less than boxers’ share of event revenue.

It remains unclear when Andrade will return to the Octagon.