Former UFC bantamweight champion, Miesha Tate has claimed that the #3 ranked, Aspen Ladd attempted to cheat and deceive the scales ahead of her scheduled UFC Vegas 38 main card bout with Macy Chiasson, which was ultimately shelved after Ladd missed the bantamweight limit.
Ladd, who has been out of action since a UFC Fight Night D.C. back in December 2019, recovered from an MCL and ACL tear in the time since, and was slated to return against The Ultimate Fighter victor, Chiasson last weekend.
However, on Friday morning at the official weigh-ins, Ladd first stepped on the scales, weighing in at 141.5lbs — fully clothed for her bantamweight fight.
Removing her clothes, Ladd then tipped the bantamweight scales at 137lbs, visibly shaking inside the surrounding cube as she weighed in, attempting to lift her hands as officials from the UFC and Nevada State Athletic Commission attended the scales.
With the bout ultimately shelved, Chiasson and Ladd were removed from the entire card, with the latter claiming that the former made the decision against competing at a catchweight, before explaining how she received her period during the week, leading to her botched weight cut.
Releasing a lengthy statement on Friday following the cancellation of the bout, Ladd promised to “be better” going forward, issuing the statement to the UFC, matchmakers, Mick Maynard, and Sean Shelby, as well as promotional president, Dana White.
However, taking umbrage with Ladd’s statement, the aforenoted former champion, Tate claimed that Ladd attempted to cheat the weighing scales on Friday.
“It’s one thing to miss weight, it’s another thing to try and cheat the scale and use every excuse in the book to not weigh in properly,” Miesha Tate replied beneath Ladd’s statement. “Everyone saw you cheat and still came in a lb over. I bet you were every bit of 139(lbs).“
Tate further voiced her opinion on Ladd’s botched weigh-in attempt, claiming that she again intended on cheating the scales when asked by a Twitter user why Ladd elected against using the digital scales backstage.
“Because she wanted to cheat the real scale and she knew if she checked beforehand that she couldn’t explain why the lbs suddenly disappeared when she got behind a curtain she could grab onto,” Tate tweeted.
On Sunday native, Ladd responded to and refuted Tate’s claims, explaining how her struggles with weigh-ins were well documented.
“U R a champ, a pioneer in MMA, I hav (sic) a great deal of respect for u,” Ladd replied to Tate. “Bottom line is I didn’t make it, there is documented history struggles. 1lb or 10lbs, the bottom line is I didn’t get it done, taking control to rectify the situation. I will not engage w/ neg this has brought.,”
For Tate, the Washington veteran is scheduled to headline a UFC Vegas 43 event in November, tacking Manaus native, Ketlen Vieira in a high-stakes bantamweight matchup.
MMA Gold coach, Jim West, the head coach of Ladd, defended his student following Tate’s claims — calling the former champion a coward.
“Miesha Tate you are a coward,” West posted. “Remember when you lied saying we wanted you to fight late notice at 145(lbs) but you went on record saying we wanted it at 135(lbs) and we know for a fact you said you didn’t want that tough of an opponent? Trust me have good inside information.“
Responding to West, Tate called the head coach a “coward” blaming him for her lack of preparedness to make the bantamweight limit.
“You’re the only coward in this conversation,” Tate tweeted. “Aspen (Ladd) is a fantastic fighter & mentally tough to even attempt the kind of cuts she does but her lack of preparedness falls heavily on you. If you worried about her as much as you did your hair she’d be well off. #liar #coward #joke“