Preview: UFC Fight Night 225 ‘Holloway vs. Korean Zombie’

Women’s Flyweights

#7 P4P | Erin Blanchfield (11-1, 5-0 UFC) vs. #11 P4P | Taila Santos (19-2, 4-2 UFC)

ODDS: Blanchfield (-142), Santos (+120)

With the top of the women’s flyweight division in turmoil after Alexa Grasso’s upset of Valentina Shevchenko in March, this fight is going under the radar as things adjust to the new normal. Outside of the fallen champion herself, Blanchfield may have been the most negatively affected by Grasso’s title win, as conventional wisdom was that her February win over Jessica Andrade established her as the clear next challenger for Shevchenko’s belt. With the UFC coming to her home state of New Jersey in May, the stage was set for Blanchfield to try and topple the undefeated flyweight queen, only to see Grasso beat her to the proverbial punch. It leaves Blanchfield to face Santos.

Santos also has a big opportunity to reaffirm her case for a title shot. Seemingly the challenger by default for Shevchenko in June 2022, the Brazilian impressed in taking the then-champion to a split decision and almost scoring one of the biggest upsets in mixed martial arts history. Heading into the Shevchenko fight, Santos had impressed in a four-fight winning streak but also never answered the questions that dogged her after an unimpressive UFC debut. A physically dominant fighter, Santos found herself neutralized against a fellow athlete in Mara Romero Borella, leading to the thought that Shevchenko would easily be able to play bully and take the Astra Fight Team product out of her depth. Instead, it became a nip-tuck affair where Santos showed physical parity with the former champion, and the broken orbital bone she suffered during the fight became a huge “what if” given the narrow outcome. Thanks to injury recovery and visa issues, Santos has had to wait over 14 months before making her return, and Blanchfield is an interesting next test as a fighter who also leans greatly on her physicality. There are some legitimate wrestling chops backing it all up, but Blanchfield’s wins over Andrade and J.J. Aldrich have seen her basically march in and take a brute-force approach to victory, forcing her opponents to keep coming up with answers as she tries to get things done. That leaves enough defensive openings that it will be interesting to see if Santos can land something big to stun Blanchfield where opponents have failed in the past, but the American has shown enough to earn the benefit of the doubt between her durability and willingness to take the initiative compared to the more passive Brazilian. There is a chance she hits a wall here, but the pick is Blanchfield via decision.

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Holloway vs. Jung
Spann vs. Smith
Chikadze vs. Caceres
Nakamura vs. Garcia
Blanchfield vs. Santos
Tafa vs. Porter
The Prelims