Erin Blanchfield told CBS Sports the Wang Cong title shot frustrated her, and she didn’t dress it up: “I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t.” Good. She’s earned the right to say it out loud. Ranking flyweight contenders shouldn’t require advanced math, and the UFC still got this one wrong.
The arithmetic
When the UFC matched Wang Cong with Natalia Silva for the vacant women’s flyweight title at UFC 332, Wang was 5-1 in the UFC after coming in through Road to the UFC, according to Yahoo Sports. Her signature win was Tracy Cortez at UFC 329. Blanchfield had also beaten Cortez, at UFC 322. Then look at the rest of the ledger. Blanchfield has wins over Rose Namajunas and Jessica Andrade, both former champions, plus Taila Santos. Her only UFC loss is a decision to Manon Fiorot. Same common opponent, two ex-champions on one side, none on the other. That’s a tiebreaker a fan could score from the cheap seats.
The official reason she got passed over, as Yahoo laid it out, was that she was already booked against Jasmine Jasudavicius. I’ll grant the UFC that much. Contracts exist. But the other half of the case for Wang was a highlight from a different sport. Blanchfield told Uncrowned that everybody was hot on Wang because “She had beat Valentina [Shevchenko] in Muay Thai previously, so she had some feathers in her own cap, and obviously it showed it wasn’t enough.” Beating Shevchenko under Muay Thai rules is a real accomplishment. It also involves zero takedowns, zero cage wrestling and zero top control, which is roughly half of what decides a flyweight title fight. Silva won. The bet lost.
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Kayla Harrison went after Demetrious Johnson this week for his comments about Silva and Wang, and she told Ariel Helwani that “There’s enough room at the table for all of us to eat.” I agree with her about star building. Putting people in big spots is how you make them. I’d only add that Blanchfield was already sitting at that table, and has been since she was 24 and headlining a No. 1 contender fight in Atlantic City.
About that smothering style
Here’s where I lose patience with a certain kind of fan. Blanchfield’s game gets called boring by people who watch the feet and tune out the second the fight hits the mat. MMA Mania points out she leads the division with a 0.8% bottom time percentage, and the only fighter in the entire UFC with a better number is Tom Aspinall. Think about what that means. Nobody puts her on her back and keeps her there. She’s the one deciding where the fight happens, and against good grapplers, that’s the job. If you can’t see the work in a body lock and a hand fight, that’s a viewing problem.
She also did the thing I respect most in a young fighter, which is take a beating seriously. Fiorot beat her in March 2024 across all five rounds, a clean unanimous decision in front of Blanchfield’s own crowd. She came back with wins over Namajunas and Cortez. “Nothing is a better teacher than failure in that sense,” she told Uncrowned, and she admitted she can be a little stubborn. Stubborn fighters who learn are dangerous. Stubborn fighters who don’t usually end up on the prelims.
Jasudavicius is no gimme
The UFC didn’t hand Blanchfield a soft landing. Jasudavicius is big for 125, she’s won six of her past seven, and her finishes include Andrade, Ariane Lipski and Priscila Cachoeira. Her one recent stumble was a first-round TKO loss to Fiorot. She beat Karine Silva in April at UFC Winnipeg, a win that came with a $10,000 fine from the Manitoba commission over what officials thought was dip and what she insists was peppermint gum. She told Full Send MMA, “I’ve stopped chewing gum now.” Problem solved, I guess.
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The venue is a real factor too. This fight was first booked for UFC 330 in Philadelphia before Blanchfield got hurt, which would have meant a friendly crowd about 100 miles from where she grew up in New Jersey. Instead she gets Rogers Place on a card where every bout but one features a Canadian. She told Uncrowned she’s been booed like crazy before and has been training in Edmonton for a week. I believe her.
My pick is Blanchfield by decision, and probably a lopsided one. Jasudavicius does her best damage from top position, and getting on top of the woman with the second-best bottom time number in the UFC is a tall order for anyone. The books agree, with Blanchfield at -310 and Jasudavicius at +250.
Blanchfield told MMA Junkie’s Mike Bohn she believes a win makes her next for Silva. If she wins on Saturday, Oct. 17, the UFC has no prior booking to point to and no Muay Thai résumé to fall back on. Book the fight.
