It was a tale of two fights for Erin Blanchfield, but the latter portion was where it counted.
Blanchfield earned a unanimous decision victory over former UFC strawweight champion Rose Namajunas in the five-round co-main event of UFC Edmonton. “Cold Blooded” overcame a slow start, dropping the first two rounds before storming back to win the next three.
All three judges scored it 48-47 for Blanchfield to help her bounce back from her first UFC loss to Manon Fiorot in the main event of UFC Atlantic City this past March.
In the first round, Namajunas and Blanchfield stood for the entirety of the stanza. While Blanchfield had moments of success, Namajunas was simply better on the feet. Blanchfield attempted her first takedown in the second, but Namajunas used momentum to take the fight to the floor herself, getting into side control, before electing to stand back up, where she continued to out-land the 25-year-old in the striking exchanges.
Namajunas attempted a takedown two minutes into the third round, but Blanchfield did a nice job luring her into a false sense of security to get top position. Namajunas kept Blanchfield in close to avoid any significant damage, but Blanchfield’s near four minutes of control time were the story heading into the championship rounds.
Blanchfield came out in the fourth with more confidence and aggression, even winning some of the early striking exchanges. As Namajunas began to land, Blanchfield body locked her opponent and pushed Namajunas up against the fence. Namajunas created separation and the striking continued. After a brief clinch battle against the fence, another quick exchange ended the stanza.
At the start of the fifth, Blanchfield came out firing, landing a big shot on Namajunas. A solid exchange from both ladies ended with Blanchfield scoring an effortless takedown, moving to side control, and getting in the crucifix position. Full control on the mat from Blanchfield, but Namajunas was able to get back to an upright position with under a minute to go. The suffocating pressure continued against the fence from Blanchfield to close out the fight.
Following the victory, Blanchfield called for a fight with former flyweight champion Alexa Grasso, who recently lost 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 moving up to the 125-pound division.