It was a story of two fights for Erin Blanchfield, however the latter portion was the place it counted.
Blanchfield earned a unanimous choice victory over former UFC strawweight champion Rose Namajunas within the five-round co-main occasion of UFC Edmonton. “Chilly Blooded” overcame a sluggish begin, dropping the primary two rounds earlier than storming again to win the following three.
All three judges scored it 48-47 for Blanchfield to assist her bounce again from her first UFC loss to Manon Fiorot in the primary occasion of UFC Atlantic Metropolis this previous March.
Within the first spherical, Namajunas and Blanchfield stood for everything of the stanza. Whereas Blanchfield had moments of success, Namajunas was merely higher on the ft. Blanchfield tried her first takedown within the second, however Namajunas used momentum to take the battle to the ground herself, entering into aspect management, earlier than electing to face again up, the place she continued to out-land the 25-year-old within the putting exchanges.
Namajunas tried a takedown two minutes into the third spherical, however Blanchfield did a pleasant job luring her right into a false sense of safety to get high place. Namajunas saved Blanchfield in near keep away from any important harm, however Blanchfield’s close to 4 minutes of management time had been the story heading into the championship rounds.
Blanchfield got here out within the fourth with extra confidence and aggression, even successful among the early putting exchanges. As Namajunas started to land, Blanchfield physique locked her opponent and pushed Namajunas up towards the fence. Namajunas created separation and the putting continued. After a quick clinch battle towards the fence, one other fast change ended the stanza.
Initially of the fifth, Blanchfield got here out firing, touchdown an enormous shot on Namajunas. A strong change from each girls ended with Blanchfield scoring an easy takedown, transferring to aspect management, and getting within the crucifix place. Full management on the mat from Blanchfield, however Namajunas was in a position to get again to an upright place with below a minute to go. The suffocating strain continued towards the fence from Blanchfield to shut out the battle.
Following the victory, Blanchfield referred to as for a battle with former flyweight champion Alexa Grasso, who not too long ago misplaced the title to Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 306 in September.
With the loss, Namajunas has a two-fight win streak halted and falls to 2-2 since transferring as much as the 125-pound division.
