Erin Blanchfield Wants Rose Namajunas Next Fight

Erin Blanchfield sat cageside in Denver as she watched two division rivals battle it out.

The feeling had been there for a while, but after watching Rose Namajunas defeat Tracy Cortez, Blanchfield (12-2 MMA, 6-1 UFC) felt more than ready to fight again.

It’s been more than three months since Blanchfield suffered her first UFC loss, a unanimous decision defeat to Manon Fiorot in her native state of New Jersey.

Unaccustomed to losing, Blanchfield isn’t hard on herself for losing. She’s had to go back to her psyche, to her childhood, to remember how she deals with defeat, sure – but she’s compartmentalized it.

If she were to do it again, Blanchfield would have been more patient and stuck to her game plan. The takeaways weren’t all bad, though.

“It’s always weird to lose when you’re not used to losing,” Blanchfield told MMA Junkie on Friday. “That was something I was definitely not used to. I’ve never lost in the UFC before. It all kind of sucks. Losing, no matter what level you’re at, sucks when you’re someone who’s competitive and someone who really loves it and loves doing well. You really have to take it for what it is.

“There are things to learn from. It’s not like I came in and got knocked out in three seconds. There’s a lot of things I did well and a lot of things I didn’t do. It’s like learning from any other fight. That night, of course, sucked. I got over it pretty well. I’ve been competing my whole life. I’ve lost a lot. It’s just not that often. It’s been a few years since I last lost. But I just have to keep the same attitude I had when I was a kid: just keep going.”

Since her fight, Blanchfield’s name has been on the tongues of several fighters. Maycee Barber, Karine Silva and Jasmine Jasudavicius have all expressed interest in a matchup. Jasudavicius, who competed in Denver, defeated Blanchfield’s teammate Fatima Kline and immediately challenged Blanchfield.

Blanchfield’s has no interest in falling into that trap.

“She’s pretty low on the ladder, like 15,” Blanchfield said. “I wouldn’t want to go that far back. I mean, if I couldn’t get a fight, I’d beat her up, obviously.”

Blanchfield indicated she would fight any opponent, especially Barber, but the fighter she hopes for is the fighter she saw as the winner in the main event in Denver.

“I definitely think (the perfect next fight) is Rose,” Blanchfield said. “She’s a really good fighter, so it’s someone who’s great to test my skills against and fight better against. I mean, she’s a former champion. That could easily be a main event on a fight night. I think that makes perfect sense.”

Namajunas, 32, is on a two-fight winning streak, including victories over Cortez and Amanda Ribas, and Blanchfield believes she can stop that momentum if she continues to improve on the shortcomings of her last fight.

“There would definitely be a different game plan,” Blanchfield said. “I would have to sit down with my coaches and look at all the fights and figure out what I wanted to do with them. But I feel like everything I’ve tried to improve, I couldn’t implement clearly going into that fight, just get better. She’s a completely different fighter. She’s a little bit smaller, she’s coming down from 115, so she’s not a huge 125er. I think there would definitely be some different strategies to employ going into that fight.”

As for the timeline, Blanchfield’s goals are falling. She wouldn’t mind fighting back in her home territory. While her Atlantic City outing was unsuccessful, Blanchfield is 1-0 at Madison Square Garden — and she hopes to repeat history there in November.

“The taxes are definitely not great, but I loved fighting at MSG last time,” Blanchfield said. “Obviously it’s close to home and all my family and friends can come. It’s just an iconic venue. I would just like to fight there as much as possible. So if I can, I would like to fight at MSG.”