Aspen Ladd is waiting to get her second chance to compete in the Octagon, last stepping foot in there at UFC Fight Night Gdansk, defeating Lina Lansberg by second round TKO.
Ladd was originally supposed to fight Leslie Smith earlier this year at UFC Fight Night Atlantic City, but Ladd missed weight for the fight, causing a whole lot of issues afterwards.
“I messed up and I missed and then I did everything I could to keep the fight going, offered extra incentive and everything. I don’t want to get into that because there’s nothing I can do about that now, it was my fault and I missed weight. That opened the door for a lot of drama that I don’t think anybody expected and there’s nothing I can do after that point,” Ladd says in an exclusive interview with Fightful’s James Lynch.
The weight miss by Ladd would cause a ripple effect with Smith and the UFC, with Smith currently battling the promotion through the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
Lucie Pudilova recently called Ladd out and the undefeated fighter isn’t surprised that the call out happened.
“Not at all. Honestly, if you look at the rankings, anywhere that you are…you can kind of put together who you can be fighting. Oh my gosh, I would love that fight, we have talked about it before. I said ‘sweet’ as soon she did it. If we’re both pushing for it, maybe it will actually happen. I did everything I could to get it, I asked everything. But it goes back to the fact that its not my decision, if the UFC decides to put that fight together…I would be absolutely thrilled. I did my best to make that happen, but now its just a waiting game,” says Ladd.
Pudilova, much like Ladd, isn’t booked for a fight at the moment, but was last seen in action at UFC Fight Night Austin.
