Erin Blanchfield’s boxing deficiencies were painfully laid bare under the lights over 25 minutes against an economical Manon Fiorot display in their main event title eliminator, while Joaquin Buckley’s move down a weight class continues to pay off as he’ll have a number next to his name at 170lbs this coming week after making longtime contender Vicente Luque look ordinary en route to a R2 finish.
Erin eats humble pie in the worst way
Women’s flyweight: Manon Fiorot [3] bt. Erin Blanchfield [2] via UD5 (50-45, 50-45, 50-45) in title eliminator, will face Alexa Grasso vs. Valentina Shevchenko 3 winner and insists she’s happy to sit on a new career-best win
IT’S one thing to relinquish your six-fight UFC winning streak – nine overall – but to be soundly beaten on the biggest night of your career, in the same state you made your professional defeat six years earlier, must sting even more sharply.
Enter, Erin Blanchfield. The 24-year-old flyweight contender went from rising prospect to problem brewing atop the 125lb division given her seamless transition under the UFC banner, having previously fought on Cage Fury and Invicta cards prior.
She spoke confidently and was unapologetic in her assessment of a now-former champion, future Hall of Famer Valentina Shevchenko 14 months ago but no matter how good her grappling skills are, here they were rendered useless against a savvy showing across all levels from Manon Fiorot in a battle of two 6-0 UFC records.
The Frenchwoman’s only mistake came when she consciously decided to showcase the strength disparity between them by picking Blanchfield up, slamming her to the canvas and while doing so, entered the sequence head down so almost got stuck in a guillotine choke for her troubles. That speaks to just how comfortable she felt.
Call it viewer fatigue after consecutive weeks with women’s fights headlining a card and proving an underwhelming spectacle over 25 minutes, but that just goes to show how different things are at championship level and the rung right below them.
Blanchfield clearly lacked a plan B here, though her best moments came when pushing the pace and backing Fiorot up with volume – whether accurate or not – to the point you couldn’t help wondering why she didn’t step on the accelerator earlier.
It’s evidenced by the stats too: she landed (and threw) more significant strikes in the final ten minutes than the first three rounds but wasn’t able to negate Fiorot’s work – absorbing more attacks as the #3 ranked contender always kept herself at arm’s length where possible to maintain that control during their stand-up exchanges.
Significant strike totals, round-by-round
R1: Fiorot (49% of 57) 28-21 — Blanchfield (36% of 58)
R2: Fiorot (44%, 61) 27-21 — Blanchfield (27%, 77)
R3: Fiorot (41%, 70) 29-24 — Blanchfield (35%, 68)
R4: Fiorot (54%, 85) 46-37 — Blanchfield (37%, 98)
R5: Fiorot (48%, 86) 42-27 — Blanchfield (31%, 85)
It’ll be interesting to see what her next move is, having had her striking deficiencies exposed like that on the cusp of a much-anticipated championship opportunity. #4 ranked contender Maycee Barber had to similarly reset after a pair of chastening decision defeats 13 months apart, and is 12 months older than Blanchfield at 25.
She’s already beaten Jessica Andrade, even if it was on short-notice, so someone like two-time strawweight champion Rose Namajunas [7] or Natalia Silva [8] would make sense or even a Tracy Cortez rematch – depending on how far she falls at 125lbs.
Buckley buoyed by career-best victory
R2, 3:17 – Joaquin Buckley bt. Vicente Luque [11] via R2 TKO (punches)
“They messed up and gave your boy a ranking!”
Joaquin Buckley made Vicente Luque gunshy and quickly set about putting the pieces together for a sudden but nonetheless career-best stoppage victory, securing himself a top-15 welterweight ranking in this coming week’s updated standings.
“On the road to gold, we’re about to take the throne. I’ve been talking about this for a long time, glad it’s here. Everyone I called out never wanted to give me the opportunity, Vicente was the only one so nothing but love for that man,” he made sure to stress during his post-fight interview with Michael Bisping.
While the age-old debate about risk vs reward for ranked fighters rages on, sequences like these will only solidify their case – Luque didn’t just lose but looked bad in doing so – against a man most didn’t think would reach this feat 12 fights into his UFC career after a topsy-turvy 2022 campaign saw him go 2-2 on the year.
Yet it was his performance in Paris that would’ve given him and team renewed encouragement there was more potential to reach despite a spirited defeat. Perhaps just not at middleweight, where #8 ranked Nassourdine Imavov’s fight management and timely takedowns wore on a short-notice opponent with little to lose.
Back at welterweight, where he began his career a decade ago, New Mansa has benefited from more of the same freedom #14 ranked contender Kevin Holland boasts at 170lbs – the punch power is more pronounced and in turn, those trying to deviate from a stand-up battle are noticeably less successful. Case in point here.
“We’ve never seen him do that before but he had to respect my power, they had to work on something brand new. I’m not just a striker, I’m a mixed martial artist.”
- Buckley on Luque shooting for a takedown, from which he landed strikes aplenty in mount to prevail
Just like Blanchfield, his next move will be intriguing. Holland soundly beat him en route to a third-round finish back in Aug. 2020 – four months shy of four years ago. They could run it back, though a matchup against another veteran like Neil Magny [12] may answer more questions as far as his ground game is concerned.
Full card results
Main card
Women’s flyweight: Manon Fiorot [3] bt. Erin Blanchfield [2] via UD5 (50-45 x 3)
Welterweight: Joaquin Buckley bt. Vicente Luque [11] via R2 TKO (punches)
Middleweight: Chris Weidman bt. Bruno Silva via UD (30-27 x 3), was changed from a TKO win after eye poke led to the stoppage
Middle: Nursulton Ruziboev bt. Sedriques Dumas via R1 TKO (punches)
Featherweight: Kyle Nelson bt. Bill Algeo via R1 TKO (punches)
Welterweight: Chidi Njokuani bt. Rhys McKee via split decision (28-29, 30-27 x 2)
Prelims
Feather: Nate Landwehr bt. Jamall Emmers via R1 KO (punches)
Women’s strawweight: Virna Jandiroba [5] bt. Loopy Godinez [10] via UD3 (29-28 x 2, 30-27)
Catchweight (147.25lbs): Julio Arce bt. Herbert Burns via R2 TKO (punches)
Feather: Dennis Buzukja bt. Connor Matthews via R3 TKO (punches)
Light-heavyweight: Ibo Aslan bt. Anton Turkalj via R3 TKO (punch), won Fight of the Night honours
Women’s fly: Viktoriia Dudakova vs. Melissa Gatto was cancelled during the broadcast, as Dudakova suffered an illness
Middle: Jacob Malkoun bt. Andre Petroski via R2 TKO (soccer kick to the body)
Bantamweight: Angel Pacheco vs. Caolan Loughran bt. Angel Pacheco via UD3 (30-27 x 2, 30-26)
Picture source: Getty Images
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