Former UFC strawweight champion, Jessica Andrade, faced a surprising loss against Erin Blanchfield at UFC Vegas 69.
Despite being a late date replacement for Talia Santos, Andrade was still favored to win. However, her performance in the match was not up to par, and she ended up losing to Blanchfield via RNC. Many were left surprised and wondering what caused Andrade to underperform in the match.
Andrade revealed an unexpected excuse for her loss. According to her, a wardrobe malfunction distracted her during the match, causing her to lose focus and concentration. The distraction occurred at a crucial moment before the takedown that led to her defeat, and Andrade believes it played a significant role in her loss.
“This is not an excuse, but when she came for the takedown, I lost focus. Because when she moved in, she put her shoulder just under my top and my breast completely slipped out. I lost focus and forgot to counter,” – Andrade explained.
Blanchfield dismissed Andrade’s claims.
Erin Blanchfield believes that if Andrade had won, she wouldn’t have brought up the wardrobe malfunction.
She told James Lynch: “She didn’t say anything during”
“and I didn’t really notice anything. Maybe something kind of like slipped … I don’t really know. If she wanted to do something about it, she would have had to say something during the fight. So, it kind of just happened, you know?”
“I know sometimes when people lose like that they have to try to find every little reason of maybe why con. Let’s say worst case scenario the takedown was from that, her giving up her back completely and letting me just choke her without defending has nothing to do with what had happened maybe a minute before. So, I don’t really think it takes away from me.”
The 23-year-old Blanchfield is now optimistic about a potential showdown versus Shevchenko.
Andrade entered UFC Vegas 69 with victories over Amanda Lemos and Lauren Murphy. Fortunately for Andrade, the incident was not captured on the UFC broadcast, so all parties can concentrate on their next matches.