Women’s flyweight contender Erin Blanchfield joins UFC Fight Camp in studio to discuss how her journey in MMA began at age 7 …
welcoming top Contender from New Jersey the bright-eyed 24 year old Aaron blanchfield as they walk along the fence now they close right in the center yeah it’s very impressive she’s a fighter two and three I mean this is high level stuff he’s probably next in line for that belt you’re a winner by unanimous decision oh cold blooded and here with us in studio Aaron blanchfield you heard Brandon Fitzgerald on ecologist age 24 and now one of the top contenders in the flyweight division Aaron first thank you for joining us but also in in the sport we see so many people who you know yesteryear they would they would fight throughout they maybe even participate in a different event or different sport entirely MMA has been basically your life how did you first get into this and when did you realize that this would be your future and your profession yeah mma’s been something uh I’ve been training since I was seven years old uh you know I started with uh like nogiu Jitsu and kickboxing my little brother actually started training and I went to go watch him uh and I was offered like an introductory class and I was hooked after that um yeah and then it kind of just all snowballed I started competing around maybe like eight or so and yeah I just kind of kept going from there of course the ultimate goal for any fighter is to make it to the UFC when you finally get that call hey we’re going to assign you to the Ultimate Fighting Championship uh describe that moment for you how did you you receive the call yeah I was actually at the gym when I got that I got a text from my manager asked me if I could take a short notice fight at 1 35 and that’s something I’ve been waiting for so obviously right away I was like yes I told my coach and he was like okay and it was literally I think it was like a 10-day notice uh for the fight so the following week I I went out to Vegas and uh it was funny because actually to sign that contract I I was at home before uh class I was still in college and I did it all on my computer so on my promotional contract with the UFC the about contract uh yeah yeah that’s amazing can you imagine that day yeah you sign your UFC contract and you just go to class Professor can’t tell me nothing oh Aaron and you’re 6-0 in the UFC Octagon 12-1 in your career to what do you attribute having such a successful start in the Premier promotion in Combat Sports yeah you know I really believe it’s just in your training and um you know I always try to take the toughest fights uh before I got into UFC I was with Invicta and I had a lot of good experience there um yeah I think it’s just training winning your fights and always trying to uh learn whether you win or lose like not being content with uh your wins so you have history ahead of you possibly you could become you get a title shot in the next 12 15 months you could become the youngest female UFC champion in history it’s cool for us because we love talking about things like that and Shining a spotlight on it but for you as the fighter how much are things like that important to you yeah I think that’s awesome that I’ve been able to get to that point it’s not really anything I focused on I feel like I always stayed focused on winning my next fight and that’s kind of why I feel like I got here I didn’t really think too far in the future and put that much pressure on myself I just kept focusing on what was next and it put me in this position well what’s next could be a title shot we got to figure things out this weekend with Valentina shivchenko and Alexa Grosso is there a circumstance a way that fight could play out that you think would put you in the driver’s seat for your next fight to be as title Challenger yeah you know I feel like if Alexa wins that’d probably be the fastest route for me to get title next I feel like I definitely should be next uh if Valentina wins then you’re not really sure if they fight again or not uh but if Alexa wins Saturday I want to fight her next yeah it’ll be really interesting to see The Fallout of that and you right in the middle of it I’m always curious about fighter nicknames uh yours is cold-blooded self-explanatory but can you take us through how you received this nickname and also is there a vetting process like do you just receive the nickname and it sticks like how does that work yeah I got it from my dad um oh yeah he made it all people yeah when I was a kid uh competing I guess I was pretty I don’t know I feel like I wasn’t super emotional whether I won or loss I was pretty stoned cold like I remember one time I like popped a girl’s shoulder and I was like it was like sorry like I just kind of like did what I always did and um he always thought I like oh it’s like cold flooded and when I started fighting um he was like oh you should use that as your fight name because I didn’t have one yet and it kind of stuck and he was like oh you can always change it if you don’t like it but I think everyone loved it and I feel like it fits me well last question Aaron and you’re going to stick around after the break because uh can you help us with some some post-octagon conversation topics but you see some names on that list of the people you’ve beaten Jessica gotcha stock ondrage is a legend in Brazil a former Champion it seems like at some point you’re going to fight Valentina and Alexa Grosso in your career however it plans out how important is it to you to to you know over the course of your mixed martial arts career to stand across from those Legends and prove yourself in a head-to-head format against some of the greatest names we’ve ever seen in this Division and in the sport yeah you know I mean I’d love to fight someone like Valentino she’s someone I’ve been watching since high school and then obviously Alexa is a great fighter as well um you know I always want to fight the best fighters in division and uh you know beat them and I feel like just yeah I feel like lining them up and seeing who’s next thank you for 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