Arlene Blencowe (13-7) is no stranger to being a title challenger in Bellator MMA. She fought the former featherweight champion, Julia Budd, twice and when she challenged her for the title the last time, it was a split decision loss. Now, at Bellator 249 Blencowe will face one of the most dominant women in MMA in Cris “Cyborg” Justino (22-2 1NC) and for Blencowe, this is a fight she called “inevitable” when Cyborg signed with Bellator MMA.
Before COVID-19 hit and shut down sports, Blencowe spent some time at Jackson Wink MMA to focus on staying sharp. When things started getting worse with the pandemic she had to make her way home but she knew she would be the number one contender at featherweight given her history with the former champion and the three-fight win streak she is currently on. “Once we knew that you know saw that Cris had been signed to Bellator, we knew that that fight was going to be inevitable,” Blencowe told MMANews.
Blencowe says camp pretty much started after Cyborg won the title from Budd at Bellator 238 at the beginning of the year. “It’s been the longest camp in history for me,” said Blencowe and added that, “After she fought Julia and, Scott [Coker] announced that you know, I was the number one contender, we started preparation straight away.”
Part of her preparation included training with current UFC Featherweight champion, Alexander Volkanovski and Blencowe said she was, “Pushed me to the limits this fight camp. Obviously realizing that this is the biggest fight of my career and that’s for; you know everything that I’ve been working hard for.”
On top of training with Volkanovski, Blencowe has analyzed the fight with Nunes and spending some time training with Holly Holm last spring who spent five-rounds against Cyborg and lost by decision, may have given her the ingredients she needs to produce an upset.
How do you think this fight will go?
