Photo courtesy of Blanchfield's Instagram account.
Erin Blanchfield looks to get back to her winning ways at CFFC 76
Erin “Cold Blooded” Blanchfield started her MMA career with a lot of hype and attention, which was well-deserved. She became an Eddie Bravo Invitational champion at 18-years-old before entering MMA. She continued to add to her impressive resume by winning her professional MMA debut and not only signing with Invicta FC, but also winning her first two bouts with the top female only organization. However, in Blanchfield’s third bout with Invicta, she suffered her first setback in a split decision loss to Tracy Cortez at Invicta FC 32.
“It was a super close fight, there’s few things I didn’t do properly that I think lost me that fight but overall, I’ll learn from it and I plan on getting better from it.”
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When the scorecards were read, Blanchfield said she wasn’t sure who won but she watched it again she thought she might’ve had the edge.
“Well when in it was read, I didn’t really know, when I watched the fight again I thought that I stood out a little bit but when you leave it to the judges you never know.”
Lately, Blanchfield has been involved in three close fights. Her win over Brittney Cloudy was a split decision win and her win over Kay Hansen was a majority decision victory. Though her fights have been tougher as of late, she feels that the finishes are on their way.
“I definitely want to get back to finishing more fights, I mean fighting with Invicta, everyone is super tough, so the fights were kinda hard there. But I feel like I’m learning from all of them. I mean I just turned 20 and I have four fights as a professional, so I feel like I’m getting better every time. So I definitely plan on finishing some more fights.”
Blanchfield is planning on finishing her upcoming fight when she faces Gabriella Gulfin at Cage Fury Fighting Championships CFFC 76 on June 14. Gulfin is undefeated as a professional fighter, wining her pro debut via armbar and her latest win over Whittany Pyles (whom Blanchfield defeated via doctor stoppage) was a decision victory.
Her last fight saw Blanchfield on her back, though the jiu jitsu ace feels she is dangerous off her back, she knows the judges don’t always see that she is winning that way and there are more advantages when she is on top in MMA.
“After the fight I’ve been trying to practice more wrestling so I searched out for a wrestling coach (Cordoba Wrestling), cause I have good jiu jitsu but I feel my wrestling was lacking a little bit to get the fights to the floor quicker or defend takedowns, so I’ve just been working on that since my fight.”
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“I feel like that was something I wasn’t working too much before cause I felt comfortable on the ground but in MMA you want to be on top position, so I felt like if I got my takedowns better and I’m more of a top player in jiu jitsu anyway. I felt it would make my game flow better.”
As previously mentioned, Blanchfield will be competing for CFFC instead of Invicta. She wanted to return to the cage faster than Invicta would have a fight for her. So Invicta graciously allowed her to seek a fight elsewhere before returning to their cage.
That fight is against Gulfin, who trains out of Marcelo Gracie’s gym in New York, close to where Blanchfield train’s at Renzo Gracie’s gym in New York. That adds a tiny bit of motivation for Blanchfield as the schools are competitive with each other.
“I feel like that is always a little extra motivation and I feel like I can definitely finish this fight.”
And no matter where the fight goes, Blanchfield sees herself getting the finish.
“I feel like I’ll have better striking or jitsu or wherever the fight goes, so I’m not too worried where it goes I just want to get that finish. Most likely take it to the ground because that’s my world, even though she’s more of a jiu jitsu player, I feel like I can definitely get her down there and get the finish.”
CFFC 76 will take place at the XCite Center at Parx Casino in Philadelphia, PA and air on UFC Fight Pass on June 14.
