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#4 Aspen Ladd vs. Yana Kunitskaya
I was surprised when I saw this fight had been booked at Bantamweight; after struggling to make the 135lbs limit in her July fight with Germaine de Randamie – even trembling on the scale – I fully expected Aspen Ladd to move up to 145lbs for her next fight. Instead though she’s facing a former Featherweight title challenger in Kunitskaya here in what sounds like a winnable fight for her.
Russia’s Kunitskaya is currently 2-1 in the UFC, following her loss to Cris Cyborg with a pair of solid wins at 135lbs, but it’s been notable that her biggest strength has appeared to be her size. She practically bullied Marion Reneau around in their fight in March, and was also able to beat Lina Lansberg in her own wheelhouse – the clinch – late last year.
The problem for her in this fight is that Ladd is also a huge 135lber – hence the issues making weight – and she’s become accustomed to taking her opponents down and absolutely destroying them from the top position, as she most famously did to former title challenger Tonya Evinger – who coincidentally holds a win over Kunitskaya when both were fighting under the Invicta banner.
Ladd is a somewhat stiff striker and can definitely be hit – as we saw when De Randamie stopped her in July – but she’s excellent in the clinch and is a real powerhouse when it comes to securing a takedown from close range.
Kunitskaya’s best hope for this fight then would be to draw Ladd into a brawl; ‘Foxy’ isn’t really renowned for her range kickboxing, but she hits hard and Ladd is there to be hit if they do exchange wildly.
In the end though, I can’t see them fighting from range for too long and if the distance does get closed, I think Ladd is big and strong enough to get a takedown, and from there she should be able to punish Kunitskaya from the top. If she can do that, then judging by the way Cyborg finished ‘Foxy’ off from the top, I think there’s every chance she can get a TKO.
The Pick: Ladd via second round TKO
