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#3. UFC bantamweight division: Aspen Ladd vs. Macy Chiasson
The thin nature of the UFC’s female bantamweight division means that no fighter is that far away from a crack at current champ Amanda Nunes. Therefore, either Aspen Ladd or Macy Chiasson could easily end up in a title fight or a top contender’s fight with a win here.
Of the two, Ladd is the most credentialed. A UFC fighter since 2017, Ladd was marked as a hot prospect when she first emerged in Invicta FC back in 2015.
Since then, she’s beaten high-level fighters such as Tonya Evinger and Yana Kunitskaya. A freak knockout at the hands of Germaine de Randamie is her only loss.
Ladd’s greatest strength is her sheer aggression inside the octagon. She’s not the best striker or wrestler, but she’s relentless with her takedowns. If she can get an opponent down, she basically looks to hammer on them until they can’t take any more. The fact that just two of her nine MMA wins have gone the distance says a lot.
The biggest issue for her against TUF 28 winner Chiasson is how she’s going to deal with her opponent’s size. Chiasson stands at 5’9” and boasts a 72” reach, giving her three inches of height and six inches of reach on Ladd.
She’s also looked good in her UFC career to date, winning five of her six octagon appearances. However, it’s safe to say that she hasn’t faced the kind of competition that Ladd has just yet.
Interestingly enough, both women have clear paths to victory here. Chiasson will likely look to land a big shot and knock Ladd out as de Randamie did. Ladd, meanwhile, will hope to use the same gameplan that handed Chiasson her only UFC loss – take her down and beat her up.
The issue, though, is that while Chiasson will require Ladd to make a massive error to land that big shot, the gameplan required to beat Chiasson is Ladd’s bread and butter.
So assuming she doesn’t charge in with her hands down, Ladd should be able to close the distance and tie Chiasson up. From there, Ladd can take her down and dish out her trademark ground-and-pound to seal a win.
The Pick: Ladd via second round TKO
