Los Angeles — Set to throw down with women’s featherweight champ Cris Cybrog at Bellator 279 later this month, Arlene Blencowe admits that she wasn’t expecting to be fighting for the title at this point.
Blencowe (15-8) has twice fought for gold in the promotion, coming up short against Julia Budd in 2017, and then against Cyborg in 2020. Outside of those losses, she’s been beating the rest of the field, but even on a two fight win streak, didn’t foresee another title shot so soon.
“I 100% did not expect it at all. I actually, in my plans, thought that I’d probably be back inside the Bellator cage in the second half of the year,” she told Cageside Press at Monday’s Bellator 277/279 press conference in L.A. “And I was actually looking at stepping back inside the boxing ring and making my run at some world titles there. Yeah, completely left field.”
After Cyborg’s most recent title defense, many expected Cat Zingano to be next in line. Or, had Bellator been able to sign her, Kayla Harrison, who spent a good while in free agency before returning to the PFL for the 2022 season. There was even talk about a rematch with Sinead Kavanagh, who Cyborg defeated back in November.
“Apart from Cat Zingano and Kayla Harrison, Sinead Kavanagh’s name was mentioned after the Ireland card. Obviously I’m extremely happy that I was the one. I mean, I’m the number one contender so it’s not like it was just thrown at me and non-deserving,” Blencowe told us. “I’m coming off two good wins. I’m here to fight, and I’m just grateful to Scott [Coker] and the Bellator promotion for giving me this third opportunity now.”
Following what Blencowe told us was a “hard five weeks almost here in America,” preceded by four weeks back home, the featherweight said she’s “just ready to get in there and have some fun. This is my main goal in this fight, is just to have fun, against [one of] if not the scariest women’s [fighters] on the planet. But get in there, and just showcase what I can do and have fun in there.”
Watch our full interview with Bellator 279’s Arlene Blencowe above. The event takes place on Saturday, April 23, 2022 at the Neal S. Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, Hawaii.
