Is Aspen Ladd focused enough to get back on track?
[autotag]Aspen Ladd[/autotag] is looking to rebound from her first career loss in her first career main event. But her story leading into UFC on ESPN 7 isn’t as simple as just trying to shake off a bad fight result.
NorCal native Ladd was fast-tracked into the lead spot at UFC on ESPN+ 13 in Sacramento in July after winning her first three UFC bouts and taking two postfight bonuses in the process.
But then she lost in 16 seconds via TKO to former featherweight champion Germaine de Randamie, and the distractions were only starting.
The stoppage by referee Herb Dean was on the early side. Ladd (8-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) and her team chose to pursue a complaint to the California State Athletic Commission attempting to overturn the result on gender discrimination grounds, despite no evidence in Dean’s long history as a referee that would indicate he’s quicker to call off a women’s fight than a man’s bout.
The protest was predictably shot down. But CSAC executive director Andy Foster heads the short list of administrators who both genuinely care about advancing the sport’s practices while also running a commission big enough to matter, and he enforced enhanced weigh-in rules after Ladd put on quite a bit of weight between weigh-in and fight day heading into the de Randamie fight.
Foster placed a hold on Ladd’s bantamweight license pending extra weigh-ins. Ladd passed, and had the hold removed, but feels she’s being singled out.
At some point, Ladd is going to have to let go of the past, particularly as she gets set to face a foe as talented as Yana Kunitskaya (12-4 MMA, 2-1 UFC). The former Invicta bantamweight champ dropped her UFC debut to then featherweight champ Cris Cyborg, but has looked sharp with back-to-back wins since returning to bantamweight. That’s exactly the type of foe who can pick off a fighter who’s got too many other things going on in their head.
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