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Erin Blanchfield was originally set to face Taila Santos in the main event of UFC Fight Night 219, but Santos was pulled from the card due to her team’s visa issues, which then led to Jessica Andrade being named the new opponent for Blanchfield.
Despite the change in opponent, Blanchfield doesn’t seem any more worried about fighting Andrade than she was for Santos.
“Everybody’s tough, so I don’t really care. I was just happy to get a fight,” Blanchfield said at a pre-fight news conference (transcript via Nolan King & Ken Hathaway of MMA Junkie). “… I know a lot of people have been saying that, I guess because Andrade has a lot of experience in the UFC. She has a lot more fights than me or Taila. I think that’s the only reason why. She’s super tough. She’s different than Taila. But I don’t think it’s necessarily a bigger fight skill-wise. I think it might be bigger for people that know Andrade.”
Andrade is ranked lower in the women’s flyweight division that Santos was, with Andrade sitting at #3 and Santos being at #1 (Tied).
Blanchfield does admit that there are some adjustments she had to make, now that she is fighting Andrade instead of Santos.
“I think they’re different body types, a little bit different styles,” Blanchfield said. “It’s just adjusting to that. Andrade has to adjust to me, too. Andrade just fought and she didn’t know she was fighting me until a week ago. We both have to make a little bit of adjustments so I think we’re on an even playing field with that.”
