Aspenn Ladd continues to have trouble making weight at bantamweight and the effects of that played out in front of the cameras at yesterday’s UFC Fight Night 193 weigh-ins.
Ladd made it to the scales under her own steam and attempted to weigh-in with all her clothes on, but when it was clear she was nowhere near reaching the 136lb limit for her fight with Macy Chiasson, a screen was brought over to enable her to undress.
Things went from bad to worse from there as Ladd appeared unsteady and when she was asked to lift her hands up above the screen to prove she wasn’t manipulating the scale she was unable to do so without her whole body shaking and was on the verge of toppling over.
This troubling spectacle was allowed to continue for several minutes before it was confirmed that she had missed weight, coming in at 137lbs.
Afterwards, it was decided that Ladd was not medically fit to compete as a result of the weigh-cut and as such her fight with Chiasson has now been cancelled.
Missing weight has been a continual problem for Ladd, dating back as far as her time in the Invicta FC promotion in 2016, where she came in 2.1lbs over the limit.
After joining the UFC, Ladd failed to make weight for her third fight against Leslie Smith in 2018, which led to the bout being cancelled when her opponent refused to compete at a catchweight.
A little over a year later Ladd was scheduled to fight Germaine de Randamie, but the fight was almost scrapped after she was seen shaking and wincing in pain on the scale, though she was later cleared to still compete and went on to be TKO’d in 16 seconds.
Tonight’s event had been set to be the No.3 ranked bantamweight contender’s first fight back after a near two-year absence after recovering from serious knee surgery, but as a result of this latest cancellation it’s clear that for the sake of her own health something has to be done to ensure this scenario doesn’t play out again in the future.
