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#2 Worst: Should Ladd have been allowed to fight?
Her fight might only have lasted some 16 seconds in the end, but after Friday’s weigh-in, the big question to me is whether Aspen Ladd should have been allowed to step into the Octagon last night at all. The UFC and the various athletic commissions they work with may preach safety, but I’m not sure that was the case this weekend.
Ladd looked simply awful at the official weigh-in, staggering up to the scale and shaking like crazy while having to use a towel on a hoop to finally make the 135lbs Bantamweight limit. She did claim that she felt fine after re-hydrating, but for someone who looked that ill to be stepping into a professional MMA fight 24 hours later was very worrying.
It wasn’t the first time Ladd’s had weight issues either – she looked ill when weighing in for her 2018 fight with Tonya Evinger, and famously missed weight altogether for a cancelled fight with Leslie Smith.
And who knows – perhaps the weight cut was the main factor behind her going down so easily at the hands of Germaine De Randamie last night? Maybe a move to 145lbs needs to be in Ladd’s future.
