For the primary time in over a decade, Rose Namajunas will struggle thrice in a calendar 12 months. The UFC introduced on Thursday that the previous strawweight champion will headline one other Struggle Night time card in Edmonton in opposition to Erin Blanchfield.
Per the official announcement, the struggle card is focused for Nov. 2, seven weeks after flyweight champion Alexa Grasso and Valentina Shevchenko full their trilogy within the co-main occasion of UFC 306. With Blanchfield being ranked because the No. 3 contender and Namajunas simply behind her at No. 5, the winner will doubtless be behind Manon Fiorot as the subsequent challenger for the belt.
The timing of the matchup strains up for each girls, with Namajunas coming off a win over Tracy Cortez in the principle occasion of UFC Denver in July and Blanchfield struggling her first UFC defeat by the hands of Fiorot in March. The struggle additionally is sensible for the flyweight division with Namajunas but to get a win over a high contender within the weight class and Blanchfield seeking to rebound from her momentum-halting loss.
Nonetheless, the struggle is barely puzzling within the sense that, barring a draw or no contest, the end result will solely additional create a logjam on the high of the division. With the place each girls are in, they every have an opportunity to be the No. 1 contender at flyweight with a win. The one drawback is that won’t be true with Fiorot looming.
If Fiorot was not within the dialog, the timing would align for the winner of the matchup to face the winner of the UFC 306 co-main occasion in early 2025. However that isn’t the case, thus establishing Fiorot because the rightful subsequent title challenger for the winner of the Grasso vs. Shevchenko trilogy, leaving the winner of the UFC Edmonton most important occasion in limbo.
The struggle is undeniably essential for the short-term title hopes of each girls however places even the winner in a sticky state of affairs: both maintain out and wait till the top of 2025 whereas hoping one other contender doesn’t emerge or take one other struggle and danger dropping No. 1 contender standing. Blanchfield was in the same place getting into her struggle with Fiorot.
