John Morgan of MMA Junkie reported this morning that Aspen Ladd vs Sijara Eubanks has been added to UFC on ESPN+9 May 18 at Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, NY. This fight will be at Bantamweight. Aspen is 24 years old. She trains at MMA Gold in Pioneer, CA. Her record is 7-0 and 2-0 in the UFC. She was supposed to fight Holly Holm on UFC 235 but Holly was pulled as her manager is negotiating a new contract. I like Aspen because she likes to finish fights as she did to the veteran Tonya Evinger in her last fight. In her only decision win, Aspen beat Sijara in 2017 in Invicta. Sijara is 33 years old from Union, NJ. She just opened her own gym. Her record is 4-2 and 2-0 in the UFC. She reached the finals of TUF 26 which was for Flyweights and then she was forced to pull out of the TUF finale because she couldn't make weight. She was supposed to fight Valentina Shevchenko for the Flyweight belt. But she was pulled and replaced by Joanna Jedrzeczyk. Then Sijara missed weight when she beat Roxanne Modafferi. So now she has moved back to Bantamweight. I never thought she should have been fighting at Flyweight. The reason she wanted to fight at Flyweight is it gave her a clear size advantage. Of course she loses that advantage at Bantamweight which makes her just another midcard fighter who probably isn't good enough to be in the UFC. Dropping to Flyweight was her only route to the UFC or she would fight in regional companies. She had potential at Flyweight. Too bad she couldn't make weight. Aspen is an elite fighter and I expect her to win easily. I would have preferred to see Aspen fight a ranked fighter.
Just curious Frank, who would you like to see Aspen Ladd fight? Thanks David.
ReplyDeleteObviously Holly Holm would have been perfect. But she won't fight until she signs a new contract. You don't want her to fight someone on the way up like Ketlen Veira or the newly signed Julia Avila. Sara McMann is pregnant and Cat Zingano is injured. And Marion Reneau is now Aspen's teammate. So rather than sit around, Aspen took a fight with an inferior opponent just to keep busy. The UFC is to blame for screwing around with Holly Holm.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Frank. I did not know about Sara McMann being pregnant. Or the rest. The UFC should indeed get Holly Holm back on board. A fight between her and Aspen Ladd would be a good one at that and a real test for Ladd. David.
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