Erin Blanchfield called herself the best grappler in women's MMA. "I think I'm going to be pretty biased, right now, it's definitely me". She will be facing the winner of Valentina Shevchenko vs Alexa Grasso for a shot at the flyweight title.
Thursday 2 March 2023 17:47, UK
Erin Blanchfield will be fighting the winner of this weekend's co-main event between Valentina Shevchenko and Alex Grasso for a shot at the flyweight title.
The American puts herself in prime position to win against whoever she faces, ascertaining herself as the best grappler in women's mixed martial arts.
"For women's grappling, I'm going to be pretty biased. I think right now, it's definitely me, Mackenzie [Dern] is very, very talented too."
The 23-year-old fixates on Saturday's big fight between Shevchenko and Grasso too, with an idea in mind of who she might be facing in the coming weeks.
"I still think Valentina is probably going to win this fight again," she said. Obviously, anything can happen and I think Alexa is a great fighter, a lot of people are writing her off. I think she can give Valentina a decent fight, but I just think Valentina has more tools to beat Grasso this weekend."
It's not the only clash Blanchfield will be watching. The main event featuring a returning Jon Jones and Ciryl Gane has also piqued her interest.
She said: "Everyone's super hot on Jones coming back right now, and we haven't seen him fight in a while or at heavyweight, so I think I'm going to go with the unpopular opinion and go with Gane for that one.
"It's a great matchup but Gane's the natural heavyweight. I think he's just naturally a bigger guy and I think he's skilled in his own right. He's probably one of the most athletic in that division. So I'm going to go with the underdog in that one."
Whether Blanchfield considers herself to be an underdog in a potential title fight against Shevchenko is another question. If it plays out that way, she knows where her opponent might fall short.
She said: "I don't think Valentina is necessarily weak anywhere, but I think her ground control and her jiu-jitsu are probably the less developed parts of her game, and it got exploited a little in the Talia Santos fight. Talia was a little shy of catching any submissions or anything on her, but she was beating her in the scrambles."
Shevchenko was unamused with Blanchfield's analysis, comparing her opponent to a "young puppy who hasn't seen life yet or experienced any trouble."
Blanchfield stood her ground, though, saying: "I'm calling for my shots.
"I know a lot of times you have to take those opportunities to call for your shots. I show I have a bite. I just beat No 3 in the world a week or two ago and I feel like I'm improving in every single fight.
"Yeah, I'm young but I feel like it's to my advantage. I'm still improving and I feel like I'm learning from each fight and you got to try it to see if you can do it. I know I can and I'm not afraid to do it. I'm not afraid to ask for it."
Outside of the UFC, there are still things Blanchfield wants to achieve, things that supersede whatever happens in the next month or so.
"When I was in college, I was already fighting pro. When I first went in, I was a bio major because I was pretty good at science in high school. But then once I was fighting, I was thinking about what I wanted to do after fighting and I thought I'd go into maybe commentating and stuff like that. I was interested in that.
"So, I switched my major over to sports media to study some of that while I was still at school. And then once I got into the UFC I kind of put school to the side. But commentating is something I still want to get some more experience in and hopefully do in the future".
In the next five years, she sees herself doing that - alongside "being the UFC flyweight champion" and defending her title.
