Erin
Blanchfield expects her next fight to be against fellow
contender Manon
Fiorot — preferably for the interim UFC women’s flyweight
title.
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Both Blanchfield and Fiorot are undefeated in six UFC appearances,
making them the top two female contenders in the promotion at 125
pounds. However, the title picture is complicated due to the status
of reigning flyweight queen Alexa
Grasso and ex-champ Valentina
Shevchenko. The two rivals battled to a split draw in their
rematch at Noche UFC, and the controversy regarding the scorecards
in that bout
left the door open for a trilogy. The third meeting could be
delayed after both Grasso and Shevchenko recently
underwent hand surgeries.
Blanchfield is fairly certain that a matchup against Fiorot is next
for her, but she wants it to have interim title relevance if the
Grasso-Shevchenko trilogy is delayed.
“Yeah, it’s definitely stalling. I feel like I’ve had a couple No.
1 contender fights now. But you know, I’m still pretty young and
gained valuable experience in those fights. … Whether it’s an
interim or not, I’ll beat (Fiorot), and then I should definitely
get a title next,” Blanchfield said uring an online live stream for
digital wallet platform HUMBL (transcription via
MMAjunkie.com).
“I haven’t been told about that yet. I would definitely push for
that. That’s something I’d definitely be interested in. I’m not
sure when Valentina and Alexa are going to be ready to fight again.
I know I think they’re on a similar timeline in their recovery. I
would hope that if it ends up being longer, they’d have me and
Manon fight for an interim.”
Blanchfield is coming off a unanimous decision win over Brazilian
standout Taila
Santos at UFC Fight Night 225 in August, while Fiorot took a
unanimous verdict over Rose
Namajunas in her last appearance at UFC Fight Night 226 on
Sept. 2.