Blanchfield, Fiorot both out to extend winning runs

Erin Blanchfield and Manon Fiorot will both be out to extend their winning runs when they meet in the women’s flyweight main event of a UFC Fight Night at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on the morning of Sunday, 31 March.

Blanchfield (12-1) has put together a nine-match winning streak stretching from June 2019 to August of last year, most recently defeating Taila Santos via unanimous decision.

The 24-year-old, who is a New Jersey native, believes that a win over Fiorot will set her up to challenge women’s flyweight champion Alexa Grasso for the belt.

“I feel like I’ve had a couple No 1 contender fights now. But you know, I’m still pretty young and gained valuable experience in those fights. … Whether it’s an interim or not, I’ll beat (Fiorot), and then I should definitely get a title (shot) next,” said Blanchfield.

Fiorot (11-1) has racked up 11 straight wins from June 2019 to September of last year, most recently defeating Rose Namajunas via unanimous decision.

The 34-year-old French fighter also has her eyes on the women’s flyweight title: “A lot of new fighters came to this division, so it's pretty interesting that the division is moving a lot and evolving; there are a lot of challenges to come,” Fiorot said. “That's exciting. I’ll wait for the (title fight) to know who will be my opponent for the belt.”

The rest of the fight card features Vicente Luque v Joaquin Buckley in the welterweight division for the co-main; a middleweight match pitting Chris Weidman against Bruno Silva; and welterweight Chidi Njokuani (who has roots in Nigeria) tackling Rhys McKee, among other fights.

UFC Fight Night: Blanchfield v Fiorot – Main card

Main event: Women’s flyweight: Erin Blanchfield v Manon Fiorot

Welterweight: Vicente Luque v Joaquin Buckley

Middleweight: Chris Weidman v Bruno Silva

Middleweight: Nursulton Ruziboev v Sedriques Dumas

Featherweight: Bill Algeo v Kyle Nelson

Welterweight: Chidi Njokuani v Rhys McKee

Featherweight: Nate Landwehr v Jamall Emmers

Women’s strawweight: Virna Jandiroba v Loopy Godinez

Featherweight: Julio Arce v Herbert Burns

Featherweight: Dennis Buzukja v Connor Matthews

Light heavyweight: Ibo Aslan v Anton Turkal

Women’s flyweight: Viktoriia Dudakova v Melissa Gatto

Middleweight: Andre Petroski v Jacob Malkoun

Bantamweight: Angel Pacheco v Caolan Loughran