Erin Blanchfield Confident She’s ‘Next in Line’ for Title Shot After Taila Santos Win

Erin Blanchfield had to weather some early adversity against Taila Santos, but she expected a difficult bout entering UFC Fight Night 225.

“I expect these type of fights, I always hope to do them better,” Blanchfield said in a post-fight interview with the UFC. “Just get in there, don’t get hurt at all, finish the fight and get out, but tough fights like this are what make you grow. So sometimes you need them.”

Santos started their flyweight bout strong, landing hard punches, knees and leg kicks in the opening stanza. Additionally, the Brazilian did a good job defending the takedown throughout the fight. Over time, though, Blanchfield was still able to impose her will through consistent pressure and control. That, in turn, created openings for her to land more strikes.

“She had strong leg kicks, I didn’t expect the leg kicks as much. Her takedown defense was good but I felt super close a couple times. I was persistent on it. I could feel her getting tired and I could feel myself being able to gain some momentum,” Blanchfield said.

“My coaches were telling me just use more speed. Don’t worry about the power as much. I was getting hit pretty hard so I was trying to go back at her hard. They were like, ‘Just worry about the volume. Keep hitting her, don’t worry about the power.’ And use my fakes to bait her off more; I was kind of walking into things a little bit. So I think I tried to make those adjustments and I was feeling better through the second and third round.”

The end result was a hard fought unanimous decision triumph for Blanchfield — her sixth straight victory within the Las Vegas-based promotion. While Blanchfield acknowledges that the flyweight clash between Manon Fiorot and Rose Namajunas at UFC Paris could also have an impact on the title picture, she is confident that her resume is strong enough to warrant No. 1 contender status.

“This can definitely make me a No. 1 contender for the title shot next,” Blanchfield said. “I know Manon and Rose are fighting as well. People arguably thought [Taila] won that fight against Valentina [Shevchenko], and Rose and Manon, neither one of them have fought Valentina.

“Rose is new to the division, so I feel like this is my sixth win at flyweight, and my last win was against a former champ [Jessica Andrade.] This was against someone who almost beat the champ, so I definitely feel like I’m next in line.”