With her 13-2 record, Erin Blanchfield will look to earn the next shot at Valentina Shevchenko and her Women’s Flyweight Championship. That win will have to come at the expense of the No. 5-ranked fighter, 14-2 Maycee Barber. As the No. 6-ranked fighter in the Women’s Pound-for-Pound rankings, Blanchfield is currently a -250 favorite to get the job done at the UFC APEX on May 31.
A Look at Erin Blanchfield
At 26 years old, Erin “Cold Blooded” Blanchfield has won all but one of her fights in the Octagon. She began her UFC career with a pair of decision wins and followed that up with three straight submission victories. Those three fights didn’t even see a third round, but her last three fights have all gone to a decision, with two of the three being five-round fights.
She’s 1-1 in her main event fights, having beaten Jessica Andrade but losing to Manon Fiorot.
Official Poster #UFCVegas107 (Vertical, Landscape, IG Vintage & IG New version) pic.twitter.com/vN53MvyAVO
— Marcel Dorff 🇳🇱🇮🇩 (@BigMarcel24)
Blanchfield has no shame in losing to Fiorot, who just unsuccessfully challenged for the Flyweight Championship at UFC 315. It was a unanimous decision loss for Blanchfield against the former No. 1 contender, with all three judges scoring the bout 50-45. Shevchenko was also unable to stop Fiorot, but the challenger put up a fight as she lost 48-47 across the board.
While she was clearly outclassed against Fiorot, Blanchfield put her best foot forward when all three judges agreed that she defeated Rose Namajunas by a score of 48-47. The “Cold Blooded” landed 110 significant strikes, 16 more than the former champion. Having landed two takedowns that resulted in 8:54 of control, Blanchfield could use her ground game to her advantage as Namajunas had just 15 seconds of control time.
Cage Fury Fighting Championships 70 was Blanchfield’s debut fight, where she won by doctor stoppage. It marks one of her two KO/TKO wins, with the other coming two years later at Invicta FC 39. Blanchfield has remained very active and consistent throughout her fighting career. She was 3-0 in 2018, 1-1 in 2019, 2-0 in 2020 through 2023, and most recently 1-1 again in 2024.
With this being Blanchfield’s first fight of 2025, it seems likely that she will fight again towards the end of the year. Seeing as the No. 4 and 5 contenders are facing off, this is a huge Flyweight eliminator fight with a title bout against Shevchenko looming. That said, it’s hard to justify either getting a title bout when Natalia Silva is the No. 1-ranked fighter, riding a 13-fight win streak, having recently defeated No. 3 Alexa Grasso.
Blanchfield stands at 5’4″, putting her just one inch behind Barber, Grasso, and Shevchenko. She was 125.5 pounds at her last weigh-in.
She’s an orthodox fighter backed by Silver Fox BJJ. All signs point toward Blanchfield and Barber’s fight going the distance, as their four combined losses are all by decision. Neither fighter has been finished in their professional career.