Erin Blanchfield never wants to lose, but she did manage to find some perspective after her first setback in the UFC when she fell by decision to Manon Fiorot in March.

While a win would almost certainly have made her No. 1 in the division, the 25-year-old flyweight prefers to have gotten her bad night at the office out of the way before becoming champion. Nothing is ideal about losing, but Blanchfield learned a lot from that experience and now believes she is a better fighter because of it.

“It’s something I’ve talked to my dad about,” Blanchfield explained when speaking to MMA Fighting. “I thought about that after that fight. It sucks to lose, but you can always get better and there is perspective in it. Like I’m so happy that I was able to lose then and not lose my title to her. Let’s say I fought for a title and won it and then lost my title to her or someone else, that would have been much worse.

“If I take that lesson now while I’m still on my way to winning the title, I think it will be a lot better than losing a title that way. I prefer to learn the lessons now so I can be prepared when I am a champion.”

As for what went wrong in the Fiorot fight, Blanchfield points to a number of key issues that led to her struggles during the five-round fight.

Blanchfield was particularly impressed with how effectively Fiorot used her size and reach advantage, which then led to issues with her wrestling after she went 0-for-3 on takedowns.

“I think my distance was definitely not judged correctly,” Blanchfield said. “I feel like she did a really good job of sticking to her plan. She was very disciplined about it and I feel like maybe I didn’t have all the answers at the time. Those are things I’ve really been trying to focus on and try to solve leading up to this fight. I feel like it was a really good experience for me and you’re never going to have the best nights every time. I feel like it was a bad night, bad timing, some bad distance. I think these are the things that led to the loss.

“I knew she was a good fighter. I knew she was using her height well. She knows how to fight for her body type and her style. She just put it to good use.”

After that loss, Blanchfield returns to another big match when she faces Rose Namajunas in a five-round co-main event on Saturday’s UFC Edmonton Card. Meanwhile, Fiorot is expected to get a title shot against new champion Valentina Shevchenko sometime in 2025.

Blanchfield expects Fiorot could potentially give Shevchenko the same problems she faced against a bigger, taller fighter at 125 pounds. Of course, Shevchenko is the champion for a reason, but Blanchfield isn’t counting on Fiorot to get the job done and take the title.

“I think Manon will do very well,” Blanchfield said. “I think she will be a much bigger fighter than Valentina. I don’t think Valentina needs to earn much (125) and that Manon is a big girl. I think she can definitely use that to her advantage, her height and her length.

“I think Valentina is the more dynamic fighter. She has more tools than Manon. So I think it’s almost about who can use what better. Can Manon use her size, her reach and her length to her advantage over Valentina’s more dynamic style.”

Since Blanchfield first arrived in the UFC, he always dreamed of facing Shevchenko as one of the fighters she most admired as a prospect in the sport. With hopes of getting back into title contention with a win over Namajunas on Saturday, the New Jersey native knows another fight could definitely happen.

On the other hand, if Fiorot gets the job done against Shevchenko and becomes champion, Blanchfield will have just as much motivation to earn her way back to a rematch, perhaps this time with gold on the line.

“I’ve always wanted to fight Valentina,” Blanchfield said. ‘I’ve been watching her for forever. She still has that aura of a great champion, even with the whole Alexa (Grasso) trilogy. So I would love to fight her and then of course I would love to fight Manon to get that win back.

Before any of that can happen, Blanchfield has to get through Namajunas, but she couldn’t have imagined a better scenario to get back to where she wants than landing this particular matchup.

Namajunas is a former UFC champion who is currently on a two-fight win streak at flyweight and Blanchfield acknowledges that a win should put her back in title contention.

“It sucked to lose my last fight and that always hurts,” Blanchfield said. “So you always want to go back out there and get that win. Make sure you feel as you normally would. I’m very grateful that I’m still in a position to fight these very high-level and high-profile fights, like another five-round fight against Rose.

“I put myself in that position because of the performances I’ve had in the past. So I really want to continue that and really express it here.”