[autotag]Aspen Ladd[/autotag] wasn’t going to let the judges decide her fate on Saturday night.
The young UFC bantamweight scored a TKO win over Yana Kunitskaya in the main card of UFC on ESPN 7 in Washington, D.C. Ladd (9-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) stopped Kunitskaya (12-5 MMA, 2-2 UFC) at the 0:33 mark of the third round to bounce back from her first professional defeat back in July.
The first two rounds of the fight were very competitive. In the first, Kunitskaya controlled the action in the clinch and against the cage, but was taken down halfway through the round. Ladd then worked to get Kunitskaya’s back and managed to land ground-and-pound, but was then reversed and put on her back with a few seconds remaining.
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The second round went similar to the first. Kunitskaya controlled a good portion of the fight by using her strength and clinch work. Ladd took down Kunitskaya with about a minute and a half left in the round but was unable to do much damage, as the Russian fighter did a good job tying up Ladd.
In the final round, Ladd came out looking to finish the fight. She connected with a big left had just seconds into the round. She then dropped Kunitskaya and ended things with heavy ground-and-pound.
Ladd successfully bounced back from her first professional defeat, to Germaine de Randamie at UFC on ESPN+ 13.. The 24-year-old fighter remains one of the most promising contenders in her division.
The fight was part of the UFC on ESPN 7 main card at Capital One Arena. It aired on ESPN following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on UFC Fight Pass/ESPN+.
Up-to-the-minute UFC on ESPN 7 results include:
- Aspen Ladd def. Yana Kunitskaya via TKO (punches) – Round 3, 0:33
- Cody Stamann vs. Song Yadong declared majority draw (29-27, 28-28, 28-28)
- Rob Font def. Ricky Simon via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
- Tim Means def. Thiago Alves via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 1, 2:38
- Billy Quarantillo def. Jacob Kilburn via submission (triangle choke) – Round 2, 3:18
- Bryce Mitchell def. Matt Sayles via submission (twister) – Round 1, 4:20
- Joe Solecki def. Matt Wiman via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-27)
- Virna Jandiroba def. Mallory Martin via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 1:16
- Makhmud Muradov def. Trevor Smith via knockout (punch) – Round 3, 4:09
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