Storylines: UFC on ESPN 54

The Ultimate Fighting Championship women’s flyweight division could soon have a bead on its next No. 1 contender.

Erin Blanchfield will draw her most difficult assignment to date when she toes the line against Manon Fiorot in the UFC on ESPN 54 headliner this Saturday at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The winner almost certainly moves to the front of the line at 125 pounds, where current champion Alexa Grasso and former titleholder Valentina Shevchenko are set to coach opposite one another on “The Ultimate Fighter 32” before settling their score in a rematch sometime this summer. Blanchfield, 24, has rattled off nine consecutive victories and owns a perfect 6-0 record in the UFC. She last competed at UFC Fight Night 225, where she laid claim to a three-round unanimous decision over Taila Santos on Aug. 26. A onetime Eddie Bravo Invitational winner, Blanchfield holds the rank of black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Karel Pravec. Fiorot, meanwhile, finds herself on an 11-fight winning streak that includes a 6-0 mark inside the Octagon. The 34-year-old Frenchwoman last appeared on Sept. 2, when she outpointed Rose Namajunas to a unanimous verdict at UFC Fight Night 226. Fiorot has secured six of her 11 professional victories by knockout or technical knockout.

The Blanchfield-Fiorot showdown and its resulting fallout for the women’s flyweight division is but one storyline to watch at UFC on ESPN 54. Here are three more:

Lights, Camera, Action

Two tried-and-true action heroes are booked to do battle in the welterweight co-main event, where Kill Cliff Fight Club export Vicente Luque awaits Joaquin Buckley at 170 pounds. They have 31 finishes between them. Luque steps back into the spotlight with wins in five of his past seven outings. A semifinalist on Season 21 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” he has not suited up since he took a five-round unanimous decision from Rafael dos Anjos in their UFC on ESPN 51 co-headliner in August. Victories over Belal Muhammed, Randy Brown, Tyron Woodley, Michael Chiesa and Niko Price (twice) anchor the Luque resume. On the other side of the equation, Buckley burst onto the global scene in 2020 with his viral knockout of Impa Kasanganay at UFC Fight Night 179. The 29-year-old St. Louis native operates out of the Murcielago MMA camp, where he trains alongside UFC veterans Dequan Townsend, Kalinn Williams and Charles Johnson. Can Buckley spring the upset and vault into the Top 15?

A Setting Sun

Time appears to be running out on ex-middleweight champion Chris Weidman, whose fall from grace has been exceedingly painful to watch. Now far removed from his historic upset of Anderson Silva, the “All-American” takes on onetime M-1 Global titleholder Bruno Silva in a featured attraction at 185 pounds. Weidman, who turns 40 in June, enters the cage with losses in seven of his past nine bouts. The Serra-Longo Fight Team anchor returned from a career-threatening leg injury on Aug. 19, only to wind up on the wrong side of a disheartening unanimous decision against Brad Tavares at UFC 292. It was Weidman’s first appearance in well over two years, and he looked like a mere shell of his former self. Silva, meanwhile, has met with his own struggles. The 34-year-old Brazilian has lost four of his last five fights, including two straight. He last saw action at UFC 294, where he dropped a unanimous verdict to Sharabutdin Magomedov on Oct. 21. Nevertheless, Silva retains the ferocious punching power that brought him to the dance and resulted in 20 career victories by knockout or technical knockout. Does Weidman have enough left in the tank to get over the hump one more time?

Second Impression

Nursulton Ruziboev made for an intriguing addition to the 185-pound weight class when he made his promotional debut with a 77-second knockout of Brunno Ferreira at UFC on ESPN 48 in July. However, the jury remains out on his staying power. Ruziboev, 30, puts his nine-fight winning streak on the line when he squares off with Sedriques Dumas in a three-round middleweight showcase that should provide some clarity on where he stands in the division. Few expect it to go the distance. Ruziboev boasts 31 finishes—20 by submission and 11 by knockout or technical knockout—among his 33 professional victories, a staggering 24 of them inside one round. He has not involved the judges in one of his fights in more than four years. Dumas figures to answer the Uzbekistani’s explosivity with some of his own. The 2022 Dana White’s Contender Series graduate has posted back-to-back wins over Cody Brundage and Abu Azaitar since he suffered his only career setback—a guillotine choke submission loss to Josh Fremd at UFC Fight Night 221 a little more than a year ago. Will Ruziboev fend off “The Reaper” and move another step closer to relevance?