UFC has made a significant change in its UFC Atlantic City event on March 30 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. According to the promotion, the main card of the event will now be headlined by Erin Blanchfield and Manon Fiorot. In line with this, Vicente Luque, who was originally meant to face Sean Brady, would now meet Joaquin Buckley in the co-main event.
The news came after the Brady vs. Luque was removed from the card. It was supposed to be the main event of the card, but Brady revealed that he didn’t sign any contract for the fight due to his injury, despite the company making an official announcement about it. According to Brady, he still has to deal with the matter, resulting in the decision not to push the fight.
With this, the Brady vs. Luque main card fight was scrapped, but the UFC found a replacement in Buckley. Unfortunately, Luque will now just fight the new opponent in the co-main event. As for the Blanchfield vs. Fiorot match, UFC has decided to elevate its place on the card.
In her recent interview, Blanchfield expressed hope for an interim fight against Fiorot as the rematch date between current champ Alexa Grasso and former champ Valentina Shevchenko remains unknown due to both fighters’ injuries. For Blanchfield, the delay prevents aspiring fighters from getting their title shot sooner.
“Yeah, it’s definitely stalling,” Blanchfield said in an online livestream. “I feel like I’ve had a couple No. 1 contender fights now. But you know, I’m still pretty young and gained valuable experience in those fights. … Whether it’s an interim or not, I’ll beat (Fiorot), and then I should definitely get a title next.”
Fortunately for Blanchfield, despite not getting the interim fight she was hoping for, the victor of the main event fight might get the chance to be the next title challenger of the division.
