After getting picked aside on the ft by Tracy Cortez’s boxing expertise for almost two rounds, ladies’s flyweight contender Erin Blanchfield lastly shifted to her A-game of wrestling on Saturday.
It did not take lengthy after that till the battle was over.
Blanchfield (14-2) took an enormous step nearer towards a doable 125-pound title shot by submitting Cortez (12-3) through rear-naked choke in Spherical 2 of their rematch at UFC 322 inside Madison Sq. Backyard. The end got here at 4:44 as Blanchfield avenged a split-decision loss to Cortez on the regional MMA scene at Invicta FC 34 in 2019.
“I am actually excited,” Blanchfield mentioned. “I actually needed to avenge this [loss].”
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Cortez managed the opening spherical along with her fast arms and knees to the physique within the clinch. Nevertheless it was a aggressive spherical through which Blanchfield failed to try a single takedown.
That finally modified in Spherical 2 after a sequence of even exchanges on the ft that noticed each flyweights bleed from the nostril. Nevertheless it was Cortez who finally shot first with a profitable double-leg takedown that Blanchfield reversed.
Blanchfield’s first shot got here shortly after nevertheless it was Cortez, due to a blatant seize of the fence that referee Blake Grice by no means noticed, that shortly returned to her ft. A visibly annoyed Blanchfield then turned a standing clinch right into a working takedown try throughout the cage that ended along with her shortly taking the again of Cortez on the bottom.
Shortly after Blanchfield utilized the choke and fell backwards, Cortez was fast to faucet out.
“I truly did not suppose the choke was tremendous tight however I might really feel the strain compelled her to faucet out,” Blanchfield mentioned.
With the win, Blanchfield improved to 8-1 within the UFC after successful her second straight following a loss to Manon Fiorot in a 2024 No. 1 contender’s bout through unanimous determination.
Cortez, who started her UFC profession with 5 straight wins, amassed her second loss in her final three fights.
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