While UFC Vegas 69 wasn't the sexiest event ever, the main event had some hype going into it, especially after Jessica Andrade was the woman to step in on short notice after Taila Santos was forced out. It was a chance for us to get a new breakout star in Blanchfield and man did she deliver. I don't know that even her biggest fans saw this coming. I've been pretty impressed with her brief UFC run and thought this may have been biting off a bit too much too soon. Going from Molly McCann to Jessica Andrade is a serious step up and she looked phenomenal. Everyone is really excited about her immediate future coming out of this and rightfully so, in my opinion. This is also what I was talking about when I said the UFC needs to start making more main evens like this to build stars, but I won't say I told you so. I don't want to say too much in the intro, so I'll just get to it.
Erin Blanchfield looked nothing short of incredible. Seeing her having grappling success wasn't surprising as we know that's where she feels the most comfortable. Seeing her absolutely wipe Andrade out on the mat, was at least a little unexpected. I know a talking point was how dominant Valentina was on top of Andrade, but that was Valentina. No one expects to get grappled by her, where Andrade would have to know the takedowns were coming in this matchup. Blanchfield didn't have a ton of success in terms of takedown percentage as all of her attempts were stuffed in the first round. However, all it took was one. She finally hit the trip in the second round and passed into side control effortlessly. Andrade gave her back in order to get up and Blanchfield beat her to the spot. She got her back and put the choke in for the submission. I don't know if I completely underestimated Blanchfield's grappling in a sense that what she did once on top didn't surprise me, but I didn't know if I expected her to get takedowns. What I definitely did underestimate is how dangerous she is on top, even against elite fighters. Andrade has never been the best off of her back, but maybe Blanchfield is the level of fighter where one takedown is all it takes. I think what had everyone watching with their eyes wide was how Blanchfield was competing on the feet. Instead of Andrade having the clear advantage there, it was Andrade with the power advantage, but Erin landing the cleaner shots. If Erin can improve that much fight to fight, which isn't a crazy thought given her age, it's hard to project where she may be when we see her next. She may have multiple levels left to grow before it's all said and done. There is at least a need to acknowledge the fact that Andrade didn't have a fight camp, but that doesn't take anything away from Erin for me. I'm not ready to crown her the next champion and predict she'll beat Valentina, but if she looks like that, she's got a very live chance. She just put herself on the radar in a much bigger way.
I don't know how the UFC doesn't give Blanchfield the next title shot. With Valentina fighting in a couple of weeks, the schedules align perfectly. The one thing that could throw a monkey wrench into all of this is if Alexa Grasso is able to pull the upset. Valentina had the most competitive non Amanda Nunes fight of her UFC run against Taila Santos last time out, so she's as vulnerable as she's looked maybe ever. Maybe it was just a blip on the radar or maybe this is a sign that she's starting to regress back towards the pack. If it's the latter, then it's not like Grasso couldn't win. If it were up to me, Blanchfield would be fighting for the title regardless and Valentina would always be there for the following title shot. However, we know how all of this works with the UFC and if Valentina lost, she's almost guaranteed to have the rematch. I'm not sur exactly when this trend started, but I do feel that it's starting to become a bit much. The immediate matchups stunt divisions far more often than they are actually warranted. Sometimes they're called for, but I think everything just flows a lot more nicely whenever the next contender is just able to move into the title fight instead and the former champion fights for number one contender status. It won't happen, but it's just my 2 cents.
Jessica Andrade certainly didn't look like her usual self, especially coming off of one of her most dominant victories by dog walking Lauren Murphy over 15 minutes. Is that because she took the fight on short notice? Potentially. I don't think pointing that out takes away from anything Blanchfield did necessarily, but given the contrast that we just saw in levels of her performance, I think it is fair to at least ask. Luckily for Andrade, it's going to take a lot for her to lose stock in any significant way. She's so solidified in her spot within multiple divisions that unless she starts losing 3, 4, or 5 fights in a row, she really isn't going to see much of a dip in her level of opponent or position on a card. She wasn't at her best here, but I'm not going to read any further into it unless it starts t become more of a trend.
Andrade is going strong in two weight classes, so that opens up the potential matchups at her disposal. I do feel that she is better suited to compete at strawweight, but she has the option to be a top 8 or so flyweight too if she wants to. I think putting her in there with someone like Taila Santos or Manon Fiorot (if those two don't fight each other) would make some sense as a title eliminator type of fight. Maybe a fight with Viviane Araujo makes some sense. If she does end up going down. someone like Yan Xiaonan, the Dern/Hill winner, or Amanda Ribas could make some sense. I hate to see her used as a gate keeper against someone like Santos or Fiorot, but that feels like it may be the route. The Yan Xiaonan fight would be a good one though, I think that's the one I want to see.
What did you guys think of the fight? What do you want to see next for both women? Leave any and all thoughts in the comments. Thanks for reading and have a good one.
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