Fight Coverage
Co-Main Event Spotlight | Erin Blanchfield vs Rose Namajunas
High-Level Flyweights Clash In Canada As Erin Blanchfield And Rose Namajunas Make Their Bid For A Title Shot
With Valentina Shevchenko back on top of the flyweight division following a memorable trilogy with Alexa Grasso, the rest of the contenders at 125 pounds have a window of opportunity to announce themselves as the No. 1 contender. That’s where the five-round co-main event at UFC Fight Night: Moreno vs Albazi comes into play.
Erin Blanchfield and Rose Namajunas could very well earn themselves a title shot should they get their hand raised in Edmonton. While Manon Fiorot holds wins over both women and is likely getting the next crack at Shevchenko, timing is everything, and a win over a fellow top contender always bodes well in a division as open as women’s flyweight.
With high stakes on the mind, let’s take a deeper look at the women taking the walk on November 2.
Erin Blanchfield
The 25-year-old Blanchfield had something of a prodigious rise up the flyweight rankings. The jiu jitsu black belt and Eddie Bravo Invitational Champion made her debut as a 22-year-old in September 2021 and racked up three wins, including one submission, in the span of nine months, setting her up for what many consider a breakout performance at UFC 281.
Fighting close to her New Jersey home in New York City’s Madison Square Garden, she faced Molly McCann, who was coming off back-to-back highlight reel knockouts in March and July. Despite lots of the crowd backing the Liverpool native, Blanchfield lived up to her “Cold Blooded” nickname, taking McCann down with ease and submitting her shortly after with a kimura from the crucifix position. She got up, dusted off her shoulders, and rightly announced herself as a real force in the Top 10, despite her youth.
MORE UFC EDMONTON: Saturday's Full Fight Card Preview | Get To Know Amir Albazi
Four short months later, she found herself in a main event, facing former champion Jéssica Andrade. She faced some adversity in the first round, but turning to her bread-and-butter, Blanchfield dragged Andrade to the ground and submitted her 97 seconds into the second round. Forget Top 10 status; Blanchfield showed she was a title contender. She solidified that claim with a gritty decision win over Taila Santos, setting her up for a No. 1 contender fight while Grasso and Shevchenko sorted out their rivalry.
Headlining a card in Atlantic City, Blanchfield fell short against Fiorot. She could not solve the mixture of strength and technique Fiorot presented in the Octagon over the course of 25 minutes, but it didn’t wholly knock her out of the picture.
Rose Namajunas
Few fighters have been able to emotionally move fight fans like “Thug” Rose Namajunas. The former Ultimate Fighter finalist first made waves when she ended Joanna Jędrzejczyk’s reign as strawweight champion in spectacular fashion. Then, she did it again to get her belt back against Zhang Weili with one of the sweetest head kicks you’ll ever see in a title fight.
However, after losing her belt to Carla Esparza, Namajunas decided it was time to move up to the flyweight division in September 2023. Her debut in the weight class did not go as planned, though. Early in her fight against Manon Fiorot in Paris, Namajunas dislocated a finger, limiting her ability to grapple and mix things up against “The Beast.”
Related: Rose Namajunas Career Highlights | Buy Tickets For UFC Edmonton
The resilient Namajunas found her footing in 2024, scoring main event wins over Amanda Ribas and Tracy Cortez to solidify her standing in the division’s Top 10, and she is now primed to make a bid for a second belt.
Meeting in the Middle
Namajunas and Blanchfield is as high-level a mixed martial arts contest as you can ask for outside the confines of a title fight. There isn’t much in the Octagon Namajunas hasn’t seen or solved, and she has some tools in her bag that could give Blanchfield fits. Namely, Namajunas’s light and deft footwork, as well as her striking proficiency from range, is tailor-made to keep a grappler like Blanchfield stifled.
She doesn’t have the pure size and strength Fiorot possesses and utilized to thwart Blanchfield, but the former champion’s speed, Fight IQ and footwork makes up for that. Should Blanchfield get her hands on her, Namajunas is arguably as deft a grappler and jiu jitsu player as she is a striker.
That said, Blanchfield likely gained a lot from her disappointing effort against Fiorot. If she has rounded out some of her striking game and grown her ability to blend it with her grappling a bit more, she presents plenty of issues for Namajunas.
Blanchfield is as strong as they come at 125 pounds, so she does have a great opportunity to settle herself into the fight if she can get Namajunas to the mat. Once it gets there, she does have the right to have confidence in her grappling superiority against anyone in the division, despite Namajunas’s own credentials.
UFC Fight Night: Moreno vs Albazi took place live from Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada on November 2, 2024. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!
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