UFC cuts ties with Aspen Ladd after latest weight miss

It appears Aspen Ladd’s next fight will be outside the UFC.

Ladd, once considered one of the most promising women’s prospects in MMA, no longer is with the UFC in the wake of her most recent issue trying to hit her mark on the scale for the women’s bantamweight division.

Citing UFC officials, MMA Fighting reported the move Tuesday after algorithm-based Twitter account UFC Roster Watch first alerted social media she was removed from the official UFC women’s bantamweight rankings database.

Ladd, 27, has not made an announcement that she’s no longer with the UFC, but a Monday post about one of her dogs on Instagram made a potentially veiled reference to something new in her future when she posted “Here’s to … the next huge milestone in my own life that she will be there for.”

Dana White says Aspen Ladd’s UFC release “had to happen.”

“She’s a great kid. She’s a really nice person.”

Full story: https://t.co/mXM0MlB5Sg pic.twitter.com/WtgHwODubc

— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) September 28, 2022

Ladd (9-3 MMA, 4-3 UFC) was set to fight Olympic medalist and former UFC title challenger Sara McMann (13-6 MMA, 7-6 UFC) at UFC Fight Night 210 11 days ago. That matchup was one that was rebooked from a withdrawal by Ladd earlier this summer.

Ladd weighed in at 138 pounds for her fight with McMann in Las Vegas. It was her third UFC weight miss and fourth in her career overall, including a 2016 weight miss under the Invicta FC banner.

According to a UFC official, Ladd’s weight cut for the McMann fight was stopped by commission officials. She made no additional attempts to cut weight after her trip to the scale, and subsequently the bout was canceled.

Ladd has a lengthy history of bad weight cuts and misses. In September 2018, she missed weight and her fight with Leslie Smith was scrapped after Smith declined to fight an overweight opponent.

In July 2019, Ladd had a scary scene while shaking on the scale ahead her fight against Germaine de Randamie. She made weight and was allowed to fight, but suffered a quick TKO loss.

Ladd missed weight in October 2021 for a fight with Macy Chiasson, which then was canceled. She then moved up to featherweight for one fight, which she lost to Norma Dumont, before moving back down to 135 pounds.

She made the bantamweight limit for an April fight with Raquel Pennington, which she lost by unanimous decision, before the most recent incident against McMann. The loss to Pennington gave her three setbacks in four fights after she started her career 8-0, including three straight wins to open her UFC career with two knockouts and two post-fight bonuses.