UFC Vegas 38, which is scheduled to go down tomorrow evening (Sat. Oct. 2, 2021) from inside the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada, lost a main card fight earlier today at the official weigh-ins.
Aspen Ladd missed the Bantamweight limit by two pounds, weighing in at an official 137 lbs. Worse than the miss was Ladd’s appearance, as the Californian was visibly unstable and wobbly on the scale. It’s not the first time Ladd has looked near death on weigh-in day. After recovering a bit, Ladd took to Instagram to release a statement, explaining that her body simply refused to shed any more weight as a result of menstruation. In addition, Ladd wrote that would-be foe Macy Chiasson opted to decline the fight rather than accept a heavy opponent.
“Fight is off. Again,” Ladd wrote. “All my fault. Straight up started my period 2 days back and made this cut absolutely miserable. Did the best I could, hit 137, the scale situation was a mess because the last thing I wanted was to bleed in front of the media. The fight wasn’t pulled, my opponent then decided she would rather not go through with it, as is her right. I’m going to get slammed regardless, so let it begin.”
Periods have caused many female fighters issues in making weight, but Ladd’s situation may be more than bad luck. Given a previous weight miss in 2016 and her 2019 death march to scale opposite Germaine de Randamie, it certainly seems like Ladd is simply too big for the division.
Given that Amanda Nunes is the champion either way and that Featherweight has very few actual members, moving up in weight seems like the smart path. After all, Ladd would likely perform better if able to weigh-in without nearly dying in the process, and her path to the title shot would still be short!
Of course, the more typical response to dangerous weight cutting is to pretend everything is fine and make no adjustments, so there’s a fair chance we saw Ladd struggling to make 135 lbs. in three-six months.
Things remain unlikely to change until a major catastrophe takes place inside the Octagon.