On Friday Aspen Ladd cut a frightening figure on the scales for the UFC Vegas 38 weigh-ins. The fighter badly missed weight on her first attempt. On her second attempt she trembled and could barely hold her hands aloft. The second attempt resulted in a miss by 1 lbs. The Nevada commission then pulled her from her scheduled fight with Macy Chiasson.
Aspen Ladd weighs 137. #UFCVegas38 pic.twitter.com/FCOQCMTTjN
— Helen Yee (@HelenYeeSports) October 1, 2021
Ladd quickly took to social media to confirm that the fight was called off. Her first message on the subject included the claim that Chiasson had refused to take the fight after seeing her on the scales. Ladd also cited her period as a reason why she missed weight.
Later Ladd issued another statement on that day’s events. There she said “I take complete and full responsibility for not making weight” and that she would “make no excuses”. In that statement Ladd confessed that she has struggled with cutting weight throughout her career and that she hoped she could become better at this sadly essential aspect of prize-fighting.
This message was met with derision from one of Ladd’s most experienced and well-respected peers: Miesha Tate.
It’s one thing to miss weight, it’s another thing to try and cheat the scale and use every excuse in the book to not weigh in properly. Everyone saw you cheat and still came in a lb over. I bet you were every bit of 139. https://t.co/VyOWcfTMCv
— Miesha Tate (@MieshaTate) October 3, 2021
The former UFC bantamweight champion accused Ladd of trying to cheat on the scales. suggesting she may have been hovering behind the screen to distribute weight away from her feet (or foot).
“It’s one thing to miss weight, it’s another thing to try and cheat the scale and use every excuse in the book to not weigh in properly,” wrote Tate. “Everyone saw you cheat and still came in a lb over. I bet you were every bit of 139.”
Friday was not Ladd’s first time struggling to make weight. She came in heavy for a fight with Leslie Smith in 2018. Smith refused to take a catchweight bout and was subsequently released from the UFC.
In 2019 Ladd had difficulty making weight to face Germaine de Randamie, where she shook on the scales before hitting her mark. The California State Athletic Commission allowed her to compete, but then stripped her of her bantamweight license.
Ladd is currently 9-1 as a pro and 4-1 in the UFC. Her last fight was a TKO win over Yana Kunitskaya in December, 2019.
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