EBI champion Erin Blanchfield is making the most of her time in the UFC as she’s already got an opportunity to break into the top 15 of the Flyweight division at UFC 269 despite only being one fight in to her promotional career. She was originally signed from Invicta after amassing a 6-1 professional MMA record as a late-notice replacement back in April, although that fight eventually fell through. Fortunately, she stayed busy and continued training hard awaiting her actual debut in the UFC cage.
She was rewarded for her hard work and perseverance in July then when she was awarded her black belt in BJJ by the legendary ‘silver fox’ Karel Pravec, which was surprising really considering the fact that she won EBI 12 almost four years prior against elite female competition as a fresh-faced 18 year-old purple belt. Eventually Blanchfield got her UFC debut booked against Sarah Alpar at UFC Vegas 37 and she put on an absolutely dominant display in shutting her opponent out for all three rounds and earning the unanimous decision victory in style.
There was no doubt that such an impressive performance combined with her stellar credentials was going to put her on Dana White’s radar, but it’s still surprising how quickly she’s been given the opportunity to break into the official rankings. At UFC 269, Maycee Barber was booked to compete against Montana De La Rosa but according to MMA Fighting De La Rosa was forced to withdraw from the fight due to injury and Erin Blanchfield has jumped at the chance to fill in for her. As Barber is ranked 13th in the Flyweight division, a win against her will certainly propel Blanchfield into the top 15 and may even be enough to see her on the edge of the division’s top 10 too.
