Former UFC strawweight champion Jessica Andrade says she has turned to side jobs while recovering from injury and working through financial issues.
Andrade is currently sidelined with a shoulder injury following her most recent UFC bout, a loss to Loopy Godinez in August 2025. During her time away from the cage, she has been earning extra income as a delivery driver and by taking on renovation work, including installing artificial turf.
"Thank God I managed to save some money, so things are going well," Andrade said. "But whenever I need to, I work as a delivery driver. I deliver meals and things like that. I just pick up orders through an app and make the deliveries. I do whatever it takes. I’m not afraid of hard work, I can do just about anything."
She added that she recently took on a landscaping project for a friend. "Recently I started a project at [a friend’s] house, installing artificial turf," Andrade said. "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.’"
Andrade’s current situation follows financial complications tied to her previous management team, which failed to pay U.S. income taxes for several of her 2023 fights, an issue she says is being sorted out. She had considered filing a lawsuit against former coach and manager Gilliard Parana for allegedly embezzling $2 million but decided not to proceed, and Parana denied the accusations.
