On Saturday night, No. 10 ranked women’s flyweight contender Erin Blanchfield faced the toughest test of her career as she stepped into the Octagon with No. 3 ranked Jessica Andrade in the UFC Vegas 69 headliner. With serious UFC flyweight title implications at play, both women stepped into the cage intent on scoring a statement victory and putting themselves in pole position for a shot at 125-pound gold.
The opening round saw both win stand and trade with one another. Blanchfield held her own with the always dangerous Andrade who was able to stifle a couple of takedown attempts from Blanchfield in the early going. Blanchfield landed a big right hand and buckled Andrade, but the former strawweight champion was able to recover and defended yet another takedown attempt as the round came to a close.
Just over a minute into the second round, Blanchfield was able to land a takedown and quickly transitioned to Andrade’s back, cinching in a rear-naked choke that forced Andrade to tap out.
Official Result: Erin Blanchfield def. Jessica Andrade via submission (rear-naked choke) at 1:37 of Round 2
