Rising contender Erin Blanchfield took questions from the press at the official UFC Vegas 69 media day ahead of facing former …
this gives the feel right now right I mean a big moment in your career uh you know USC main event here I guess gives the the emotions for you right now oh yeah I’m super pumped to be the main event um you know I first got the fight against Talia I wanted five rounds because I knew what fighting her men so like I wanted that experience uh so when they called me back a couple weeks later and I was gonna be five five rounds I was super down hello uh then of course you get that but then you get the change of opponent right everything all mixes up I guess what were your thoughts when that was presented was that a challenge for you I mean how did you react uh no my manager called me told me tally it was out but andrage was willing to take the fight and I was definitely down right away I already put in all the work and I really wanted to fight uh you know Tyler’s opponent on Josh’s opponent but everybody’s tough so I didn’t really care and um I was just happy to get a fight to me from the outside looking in like you said Talia a very very tough fight right I mean she had a great fight last night but maybe not the name recognition I guess I mean does this feel almost like a like a bigger opportunity somehow I know a lot of people been saying that I guess it’s because andraj has a lot of experience in the UFC she has a lot more fights than like me or Talia um but I think that’s the only reason why I mean obviously she’s super tough she’s uh different than Talia but um but I don’t think it’s necessarily like a bigger fight um like skill wise um I think it made it bigger for people that know andrage right does it uh present any different challenges as you said I mean both of them are really really tough opponents right but does this present any more like specific challenges for you oh no I mean I think it’s just they’re they’re different like body types A little bit different styles so just kind of adjusting to that but um and Josh has suggested me too you know she just fought and she didn’t know she was fighting until like a week ago so we both have to make a little bit of adjustments so I think we’re on an even playing field with that given the short notice like do you change game plan change approach I mean I think we kind of know what you like to do I mean you just stick with what you do uh yeah of course I mean even in my camps I mean obviously you look up your opponents and you’re like strategizing for them but you have to really focus more on what you want to do and what you want to implement in the fight so I think keeping that mindset uh doesn’t makes the opponent change like less scary in that sense I guess you know you know you can always do what you can do against anybody uh so just little different strategies um but nothing huge and I’m ready to go it seemed like I have like a very business-like approach to this right but is there any part of you that’s just sitting kind of enjoying a little bit I mean you’re so young in your career and to be in this spot facing a former Champion a main event I mean is any part of you like just like trying to soak it in and enjoy it at all oh yeah definitely but um but I know I want to stay super focused uh to win this fight Saturday because I know winning’s gonna make it that much better and I can always look back and soak it in um but yeah winning it’s been staying focused the most important nice last thing for me you know you mentioned winning all right I mean you’re top 10 already you beat number three a form of champ I mean title shots and things like that are in the discussion are you thinking that way already like I win here this this is potentially a number one Contender fight for me I know it’s definitely possible um but I’m just really trying to keep Jessica like on my mind first because I know if I don’t win that then none of everything else won’t come uh so keeping that first and yeah I mean having the five rounds is definitely beneficial if that does happen next um but yeah this fight Saturday first Aaron um did you watch Jessica and Raj’s last fight against Lauren Murphy uh yes I did what did you think of um the referee not stopping that fight did you like as a fighter did you like appreciate Laura Murphy like you keep going or did you think it’s a little bit like too much damage um you know I know no seeing Lauren fight for a couple years I know she’s super tough um and she can take a lot she never really like dropped much from any of those shots I mean she was definitely eating a lot I think she made some uh strategic mistakes she was kind of getting clipped every time she would pull out um I mean I don’t know if there was any like she really really needed to be stopped she never really fell I mean she definitely more damage than maybe you’d want to um but yeah it wasn’t something where I was like oh it should have been stopped um and like I know you just said that you know you’re not looking past Jessica but like you know if you beat her are you looking at fighting for the town X or do you want another like Contender like monoforo and get another five round five or or is it like because you know you’re so young or is it like you want you want to get rushed to that title uh you know I don’t really care either way um I know what winning this fight means so if that’s what if fighting for a title is next then I’ll do that if they want me to find someone else next I’ll do that too um I’m just focusing on winning this fight Saturday and I know whatever comes next will be good where did cold-blooded come from my dad made that nickname up actually a long time ago when I was a kid competing um I guess when I when I competed I was a pretty like Stone Cold face whether I won or lost um so he always thought like oh it’s cold blooded and then when I actually started fighting he’s like oh you should use that as your nickname and it didn’t kind of flow well with my name and everybody liked it so I went with it thank you yeah over here real quick um that that went over Molly McCann like she came in with a whole lot of fanfare people talking about their bets on her and all that kind of stuff to be able to not only beat her on that kind of stage but the way you did it finishing her and kind of taking her shine what did that feel like for you oh I mean that felt amazing I mean I kind of went in there expecting that out of myself um so I think that’s kind of why I had that the reaction afterwards that I did um but beating someone like her that had a big name in front of uh like my hometown basically um was yeah Priceless now you have the you know some of the bigger names out there but I saw the uh the Rogan episode where he called you an effing assassin and what was that like you’re watching it you can see it it’s all over the Internet yeah you see the clip what would that feel like someone like that is calling you an assassin which is honestly adopting just here myself yeah that’s super awesome I’ve always been a big Joe Rogan fan um so it’s really cool to see him say that all right thank you good luck good thank you Aaron over here yeah yeah over here um quick question with Jen’s polar getting announced into the Hall of Fame this past weekend and you being kind of this next generation of fighter I just wanted to know do you have any of like the ogs of the game that influenced you coming up in your MMA career uh you know someone I’ve always watched a lot was uh George Saint Pierre I always liked his style um I felt like his his game just flowed really well he was super well-rounded um and he was champ for a while for a reason so I always loved watching his fights awesome and then another question with you again with you being you know this next generation of fighter how big of a factor do you think social media plays like do you think just winning is enough to blow you up in the sport now or do you need to have a big social media game as well I mean social media nowadays is definitely super important um I think winning is the most important despite social media because if you’re not winning then how can you really blow yourself up I think uh keeping the real world stuff first is always important um social media is important too but uh keeping that first is more important and uh last question for me this has been a Hot Topic over this past weekend who did you have winning vulcanovskiers I actually haven’t gotten to watch that whole fight so I’ll have to watch it back and let you know thank you