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Despite pushing women's flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko to the limit in June, Brazil's Taila Santos was not awarded an immediate rematch by the UFC following her split-decision loss. 

Santos (19-2) does, however, appear to have a date and opponent set for her return.

Rising 125-pound contender Erin Blanchfield (10-1) told CBS Sports on Monday during a pre-taped interview with "Morning Kombat with Luke Thomas and Brian Campbell" that she has signed a contract to fight Santos on a Feb. 18 UFC Fight Night card from the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.   

Blanchfield, 23, revealed she also signed a new four-fight deal and presented UFC with a single caveat necessary before she would agree to what is potentially a No. 1 contender's fight, just months after her breakout submission win over Molly McCann at New York's Madison Square Garden in November.

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"When they first offered it to me, I [asked about the date]," Blanchfield said. "I love to have notice and I like to have a full camp so I can be prepared for anybody. Once I have that, I know I can beat anybody in the world. I'm definitely hyped for [this matchup].

"[Santos] is a little bit taller than me. I'm like 5-foot-4 and she's 5-foot-6. She is a striker but she has some good wrestling. She likes her takedowns off the cage and her jiu-jitsu is decent. She is well-rounded, but I don't think she's necessarily dangerous."

A native of Elmwood Park, New Jersey, Blanchfield has won all four of her trips to the Octagon after making her UFC debut in late 2021. She has won seven straight fights since her lone pro defeat, a split decision against current UFC flyweight Tracy Cortez at Invicta FC 34 in 2019. 

Blanchfield, who turned pro at 18 and owns victories over the likes of Kay Hansen, Miranda Maverick and JJ Aldrich, will be making a big step up in class against the 29-year-old Santos, who relied on her size and grappling to nearly upset Shevchenko at UFC 275.  

"I think [Santos] was a little bigger than Valentina, who I don't think cuts much weight," Blanchfield said. "Taila looked a little bit bigger than her and she has better cage wrestling so she was able to take her off of the cage a couple of times with that. Valentina also went for a bunch of headlocks where she got her back taken off of, which I think that was pretty dumb.

"[Shevchenko] has hit it in fights before without having to pay for it, but Taila was just a little bit too good that she was going to get her back taken off of it. [Shevchenko] just didn't know how to fight off a body lock. She didn't know which side to go to. She kind of just started punching and would stay there."

Shevchenko (23-3), 34, is 9-0 since moving back down to 125 pounds in 2018 and has made seven defenses of her flyweight title. 

"When I was watching [Shevchenko-Santos] live, I definitely did think Taila edged it out but when I was watching it again, I could see where they could give it to Shevchenko," Blanchfield said. "It was super close but if I was judging, I would probably give it to Taila because of ground control."