Women’s bantamweight contender Aspen Ladd has interest in a fight with Yana Kunitskaya.
Fight of the Night honors at UFC Rochester deservedly went to women’s bantamweights Aspen Ladd and Sijara Eubanks. Ladd prevailed by unanimous decision to improve to 2-0 vs. Eubanks and 8-0 overall in her promising MMA career.
The 24-year-old is not too far away from title contention following last Saturday’s win. You may recall that she was actually in line for a fight with Holly Holm at UFC 235, but it was ultimately scrapped and Holm is now set to face Amanda Nunes for the 135 lbs title at UFC 239. A month before her own fight vs. Marion Reneau, former Invicta FC bantamweight champion Yana Kunitskaya expressed interest in facing Ladd.
Hey @AspenLaddMMA
So sorry that your fight got cancelled. My focus now is with my upcoming fight in March. But after that…I am extremely interested to face u !!!— Yana Kunitskaya (@YanaKunitskaya1) February 3, 2019
Kunitskaya (12-4, 1 NC) would go on to beat Reneau by unanimous decision to improve to 2-0 since her return to bantamweight last October. She made her UFC debut at UFC 222 last March, losing by TKO to then-featherweight champion Cris Cyborg.
Ladd certainly remembers the call-out, and now she’s interested in taking on the Russian next.
U ready to step up @YanaKunitskaya1 let’s run it….@Mickmaynard2 @ufc @danawhite @MMAjunkieJohn @MMAjunkieGeorge @bokamotoESPN @arielhelwani @KarynBryant @dc_mma @DamonMartin @NickPortellaMMA @CombatInsiders @TJDeSantis @laura_sanko @bjpenndotcom @YahooSports https://t.co/dybD8N09pj
— Aspen Ladd (@AspenLaddMMA) May 20, 2019
UFC rankings have Ladd at #6 and Kunitskaya at #7, so it seems more than logical to match those two up for a pivotal showdown to see who’ll move one step closer to a title shot.
Kunitskaya did have to take some time off after her nose was busted up against Reneau, but she had successful surgery and has since returned to sparring.