Namajunas Vs. Blanchfield Betting Odds, Prediction | UFC Betting Sites

UFC Fight Night: Namajunas v Cortez — Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) women’s Flyweight talents Rose Namajunas and Erin Blanchfield will collide this weekend (Sat., Nov. 2, 2024) at UFC Edmonton from Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

After a challenging start, the 125-pound career of “Thug Rose” is up and running. She’s faced two Top 10 contenders in her last two bouts, picking up clear decision wins in the process. Blanchfield, conversely, is entering off the first loss of her UFC career. Prior to that defeat to Manon Fiorot, she was the hottest prospect in the division and pegged as a surefire future champion.

Fiorot is the shadow looming over this match up, the most recent woman to defeat both of these athletes. However, she’s also definitely next in line for a shot at Valentina Shevchenko’s title, so this feels like title eliminator for the next chance at gold.

Let’s take a closer look at the betting odds and strategic keys for each athlete:

Namajunas vs. Blanchfield Betting Odds

Rose Namajunas victory: +114
Rose Namajunas via TKO/KO/DQ: TBD
Rose Namajunas via submission: TBD
Rose Namajunas via decision: TBD
Erin Blanchfield victory: -135
Erin Blanchfield via TKO/KO/DQ: TBD
Erin Blanchfield via submission: TBD
Erin Blanchfield via decision: TBD
Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook

How Namajunas Wins

Namajunas is pretty damn good everywhere. At this stage of the game, she can wrestle with the best of them, is an underrated submission threat, and has some of the cleanest boxing in WMMA history. There’s a reason she became two-time champion in the best women’s division, and if she can perform when it counts, another title isn’t out of her reach.

This match up is remarkably simple to the Tracy Cortez one. Simply put, Namajunas has the far superior boxing. Her strikes will land with more fluidity and power than Blanchfield, who is more of a paint-by-numbers volume strikers. The question is whether or not Namajunas can maintain distance and prevent Blanchfield from imposing her grappling and size.

It all comes back to footwork. Blanchfield attacks on straight lines, so Namajunas should have a big advantage in cutting angles and avoiding the fence. Blanchfield’s grittiness and jiu-jitsu expertise are a threat, but none of it will matter if she’s swing at air and getting popped by counters.

How Blanchfield Wins

At just 25 years of age, it’s too early to count out Blanchfield just yet. While her striking is still developing, she’s genuinely an expert on the canvas, and her chain wrestling is better than the average jiu-jitsu fighter.

The key here is to get her hands on Namajunas. As mentioned above, her ability to cut off the cage rather than follow will be tested here, and she really struggled with that same issue against Fiorot. Since Namajunas isn’t quite as physical a fighter as the French striker, one possible solution is to focus on shooting below the waist rather than pursuing the clinch.

If Fiorot is able to grab a leg, that’s the start of a wrestling match. She can use a single — even one destined to fail — to shove Namajunas into the cage or transition to a double. Historically, Namajunas doesn’t like grinding matches and tends to slow. Blanchfield, on the other hand, has shown consistently excellent wrestling conditioning and would really benefit from an endless grappling match.

A bit of a size advantage certainly doesn’t hurt in that kind of fight either.

Namajunas vs. Blanchfield Prediction

Though situated as the co-main after initially being scheduled for the main event, this contest remains 25 minutes. That favors Blanchfield, and it makes the prediction a lot more difficult.

Generally, I believe Namajuans is the better fighter by a fair margin. She’s the cleaner, more powerful striker, and Blanchfield is fairly easy to hit. Even in the wrestling, Namajunas is going to be very difficult to drag down. It was a horrendous fight, but Namajunas did prove that her modern takedown defense is excellent in the Carla Esparza rematch.

The question is whether Blanchfield can win simply by being younger and wanting it more. In a fight where a finish feels unlikely, pure cardio and volume are often deciding factors. Factor in Namajunas’ inconsistent performances, and suddenly it feels hard to be overly confident despite her clearly superior skill set.

I’m still going to side with the former champion, but I’d feel a lot better if this was a three round fight.

Prediction: Namajunas via decision