Can Erin Blanchfield rise to the occasion again?

The original main event for this weekend's UFC card was supposed to between Marlon Vera and Cory Sandhagen... Luckily the UFC rescheduled that bout to be the main event of the UFC Fight Night San Antonio Card on March 25th giving those two warriors a packed venue to compete at rather than in the UFC Apex. Given the original main events rescheduling, how did we wind up with a replacement that still has intrigue?

Blanchfield vs Santos original co headliner

What was originally booked as the co main event for this weekend's card in Erin Blanchfield and Taila Santos was bumped up a slot after Vera and Sandhagen's rescheduling. Blanchfield is coming off a first round submission against Molly McCan. McCan went into this bout on a three-fight win streak in which two of her wins were by way of spinning elbow, which certainly earned McCan a lot of new fans. That being said, Blanchfield ransacked all the hype McCan had going into that fight. Reason being for the mentioning of Molly McCan is because she also fought Santos back in 2020, losing a decision. Santos would eventually be granted a title shot against Valentina Shevchenko last year and come up short in a very competitive fight. Despite this fight being bumped up to a main event, the matchmaking for Blanchfield and Santos was too good to be true unfortunately.

Santos out... Andrade steps in

There were reports of Taila Santos coaches unfortunately not having approved travel visas which prompted her to withdraw from the fight. Subsequently the UFC had to scramble to find a replacement opponent for Blanchfield who was willing to remain on the card and fight whoever, something she is not receiving enough credit for. Ultimately Jessica Andrade was offered the fight on a week's notice and accepted the challenge of Blanchfield. It is a good look from the former strawweight champion who is looking to stay active in 2023 after a dominant win against Lauren Murphy in Brazil less than a month ago. Needless to say, this matchup has many fans more invested than before.

Title Implications?

It was clear beforehand that Santos and Blanchfield was circumstantially correlated to the UFC women's flyweight title given the fact that Santos was the last person to fight for the championship. Now those circumstances have seemingly been multiplied with Andrade stepping in as a replacement. Andrade is a brute and has garnered a ton of experience against the absolute best fighters in the world. Andrade also previously challenged for the flyweight throne in 2021 but came up short to Valentina Shevchenko. It seems like all the factors are stacked against Blanchfield similar to when she faced Molly McCan. Only difference is she is facing a powerful former champion coming off an impressive win. Blanchfield's nickname is "Cold-Blooded" for a reason as she showed against McCan, her ground game is incredibly high level, and considering how Valentina beat Andrade... Do you think it's possible for Erin to pull of the same thing? Because I do.