UFC Fight Night 219 Beforemath: Can Erin Blanchfield Deal with the Physicality?

This weekend, the Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to the Apex, as Erin Blanchfield gets her first major test in the form of former strawweight champion Jessica Andrade. Blanchfield is coming off a career best win over Molly McCann and looks to continue her momentum and win an eighth straight fight. A win for Blanchfield would put her to the top of her division but Andrade is also firing on all cylinders. Since her loss to flyweight champ Valentina Shevchenko in 2021, Andrade has been undefeated, beating Cynthia Calvillo, Lauren Murphy and Amanda Lemos.

It’s the middle of fight week, so it is time to break down the UFC Fight Night 219 main event in this edition of Beforemath. Today we will be discussing Blanchfield’s technical abilities and how they match up against the toughness of Andrade.

Erin Blanchfield: Time to Show What You’ve Got

For Blanchfield, taking on former strawweight champion Jessica Andrade in the main event of “UFC Vegas 69” is a tough task. Originally, she was scheduled to fight Taila Santos, another former challenger to Shevchenko’s flyweight throne. While that title defense might have been tougher for Shevchenko than the Andrade fight, Andrade is a much more difficult opponent for Blanchfield. A win here would be a huge boost to Blanchfield’s case for a title shot.

At only 23 years old and with a 10-1 record, Blanchfield does many things quite well. She knows what to do and when to do it. She makes good reads on the feet, and her ground control is excellent. The only thing she is missing is power. Without the power to back Andrade up, Blanchfield could be stuck on an island, forced to fight with a fighter who thrives in the fire and flames of a five-round war. Blanchfield can get the job done, though.

When watching the fight with Molly McCann, what stands out the most was Blanchfield’s use of the crucifix position to beat up her opponent. When she had McCann in such a bad spot, Blanchfield switched from her ground-and-pound and started fishing for a kimura. When Blanchfield found herself losing position looking for a kimura to McCann and wasting time, she went back to the crucifix and started softening her up again. Blanchfield eventually fished the weary hand of Molly McCann back between her legs into lockdown.

For Blanchfield to get to that position, where she controlled McCann so completely, she had to get the fight to the ground. All fights start on the feet, after all. I want to look at Blanchfield’s takedown in the McCann fight in two steps: to examine how she got in on the takedown and how she prevented a wall-walk escape by McCann.

After frustrating McCann with footwork and the cross, Blanchfield found her opponent swinging wild and headhunting. After picking up on this, Blanchfield would use it to get to the clinch. (1) We see the start of the final exchange on the feet open with McCann stepping in looking to swing. Blanchfield would (2) take her head off the center line and dip low for a double leg takedown. With McCann throwing such a wide hook, Blanchfield was able to get her left hand in an advantageous position and prevent McCann from getting the underhook and pull Blanchfield off her.

After getting into the clinch but unable to finish the takedown, Blanchfield saw herself against the fence, pressuring McCann. The wall-walk off a takedown is something we see used by many American Top Team fighters. McCann and her team at Next Generation Liverpool are also quite adept at this. Blanchfield wanted to avoid this altogether, so on the takedown, where she would have the most control of where McCann ended up, she would turn McCann away from the fence.

In our second diagram, we could see Blanchfield (1) try to pick up McCann and when she couldn’t get McCann off the ground, she decided to turn her away from the fence to stop the wall-walk. (2) On the turn, Blanchfield manages to get McCann off balance, and was then able to complete the takedown. Notice how when they fall, (3) Blanchfield gets between the fence and McCann so “Meatball Molly” can’t work her way to the fence.

It’s these smart decisions that make Erin Blanchfield one of the best fighters under 25 in her division, if not the best. She uses the right tools at the right times. She may not have the most power in her hands, but Blanchfield does have an eye for openings with her cross and puts herself in good positions to take advantage of that.

The problem with the Andrade fight for Blanchfield is the physicality of her new opponent. Santos was quite the challenge, but Blanchfield’s fight style hinges on her being more physical than her opponent. She won’t be more physical than Andrade who thrives there. Blanchfield needs to get the fight to the ground and do it quick or she will get caught in the clinch with Andrade who can cause damage there. Get the fight down, secure control and work to a submission. That should be the game plan for Blanchfield this weekend.

Jessica Andrade: The Last Woman Standing

Andrade was dominated by Shevchenko in their flyweight title fight. She lost a split decision to Rose Namajunas in their rematch. Weili Zhang ran through Andrade in their bout, and Joanna Jedrzejczyk picked her apart. The only UFC title fight Andrade has won was against Namajunas in their first fight when she dumped her on her head. When everything is on the line, Andrade generally struggles, but she feasts on the fighters who come up through the ranks thinking they can boost their resume with a win over a former champion.

Cynthia Calvillo, Amanda Lemos, Lauren Murphy, Karolina Kowalkiewicz, Tecia Torres, Claudia Gadelha; the list goes on and on. Andrade is a tough, physical fighter, and she can, and likely will, Erin Blanchfield a test come “UFC Vegas 69.” Andrade’s physicality and grit will give Blanchfield problems and force the newcomer to do something different than what she’s always done to accumulate that 10-1 record.

Going into this fight, Andrade will want to be careful with the short-notice nature of this fight. Her cardio is usually on point but getting ready for a fight on such a quick turnaround—less than a month after the Murphy fight—is a point to keep in mind. A tough weight cut is likely inbound and that could play into Blanchfield’s hands as the fight goes on.

Andrade will want to use her physicality and experience to combat the fight IQ of Blanchfield. She will likely look to push the fight into the fence and grind on Blanchfield. I also expect Andrade to look to land some hammers on the exit from the clinch to accumulate some damage.

While against the fence, I want to look at a similar fighter: Amanda Lemos. Coincidentally, Lemos is a former opponent of Andrade, one that Andrade beat with physicality. Against Marina Rodriguez, Lemos slowed down her opponent’s striking by pressing her against the cage and getting the fight to the ground.

(1) Jumping right in, we see Lemos pressing Rodriguez against the cage. Andrade will do well to use her size advantage in this manner. Press against Blanchfield, show her what fighting at the top of the flyweight division will be like. Lemos also maintains control with the underhook in our first section with her left arm (highlighted). (2) To get to the ground, Lemos will, like the Blanchfield-McCann sequence from earlier, turn Rodriguez away from the fence by pushing with her right arm, the overhook/whizzer, and pulling with her underhook arm. The two arms working in tandem cause problems for the balance of Rodriguez and will eventually result in a takedown. But if we take a close look to section 3 (3), Lemos adds another layer to the takedown, grapevining the leg around Rodriguez and tripping her in addition to the pulling.

With the type of strength Andrade possesses, I would like to see a similar approach to the Blanchfield fight. She’s been in these situations; she’s accomplished takedowns here. Andrade can really use these types of positions to wear on Blanchfield in a five-round fight at a level that she’s never seen before.

For Andrade, the true key to this fight is to be herself in some ways and not be herself in others. She needs to be a heavy puncher. Blanchfield has minimal experience compared to the 24-9 record of the former strawweight champion. Andrade’s power has carried over quite well to flyweight and we’ve seen her use it to batter her opponents. Just ask Murphy what it was like to be locked into a cage with Andrade.

What I would really like to see from Andrade is not her brutal power, it’s not a slam on the head à la Rose Namajunas. What I want to see from Andrade in this fight is control and restraint. This is a fight she can win but she has to understand the circumstances she finds herself under. Blanchfield is very capable of beating a very ill-thought out game plan and if Andrade comes in and gasses out because of a short window of opportunity for the weight cut, she will find herself in a similar crucifix that Blanchfield used on McCann and like the one Valentina Shevchenko used on Andrade herself.

All in all, this fight is actually quite intriguing simply for what Andrade brings to the table. She brings power to a division that’s full of grapplers who cannot seem to generate a knockout. If Andrade presses Blanchfield against the fence, grinds on her, and makes the night miserable, she could come away with a win and a pretty sweet payday for it.