Always one to keep her cool, Blanchfield credits her friends and family for reminding her when to get excited about a particularly cool accomplishment like getting a first-round submission win in Madison Square Garden. That even-keeled demeanor is a trait Blanchfield says comes naturally, as well as from high self-expectations, but she is doing her best to enjoy the moments as they come.
She didn’t get too much time to enjoy rest on her laurels. A few weeks after the win, UFC proposed a February 18 fight against recent title challenger Taila Santos, and although that meant starting camp inside of the holiday period – Blanchfield prefers keeping her summers open, anyway – the opportunity was too good to pass up.
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“I definitely didn’t expect it,” she said. “I was looking at who has fights and who didn’t, or who’s hurt, and it definitely made sense that she hasn’t fought in a while. She’s number two, so that’s a huge opportunity to go and take that spot from her. I’m going to fight all these girls anyway, so I was like, ‘Why not now?’ I feel like me and my coaches have broken her down, been training for her. As long as I get my training camps, if I feel good that day, I’ll beat anybody in the world. Just another girl, another fight.”
Calling Santos “just another girl” might raise some eyebrows, particularly after Santos pushed champion Valentina Shevchenko to a split decision result at UFC 275: Teixiera vs Prochazka. Before that fight, Santos had dispatched the likes of McCann, Gillian Robertson and Joanne Wood in marauding, mauling fashion.
Despite those accolades, Blanchfield isn’t all that caught up in the stakes of the fight nor has she built Santos up to this ultra-intimidating figure. She imagined the potential future for herself should she beat Santos when the fight first came together and is eager at the prospect of potentially handing Shevchenko her first loss in the flyweight division. Given the way “Bullet” fought and at times struggled, Santos is an ideal measuring stick for the hopeful contender-to-be.
