Fresh off her first win in almost three years, Aspen Ladd is ready to start the next chapter of her career.
To her, she’s already vastly ahead of the PFL’s top female talent: Larissa Pacheco and Kayla Harrison.
” I think Larissa’s progressed tremendously,” Ladd stated after her victory over the ex-Bellator champion in her featherweight debut at 2022 PFL Championships. She’s been very successful with her striking.
” I think Kayla was the queen for quite some time. But if you look at either one of their resumes, it’s absolutely nothing compared to the people that I have fought and have come in fighting. You have different experience levels with different opponents
In one of the biggest upsets this year, Pacheco beat Harrison in the finals for the women’s lightweight tournament. It was Harrison’s first loss as an MMA professional after her decorated career in judo, where she was a two-time Olympic champion.
The major knock on Harrison and other fighters in the PFL has been their level of competition. Ladd’s entry bolstered tournament-based promotions’ roster. However, for the moment, she competes at a different weight division. She moved up to featherweight following her release from UFC due to another weight issue which resulted in her losing her fight at UFC Vegas 60..
The 27-year-old Ladd said the experience of fighting in a bigger weight division was a completely new experience.
“Elated, she stated. I went through serious health issues, and not only my knee, but also the past couple of years. I lost my entire hair due to auto-immune. This little shaved down [hair] is not because I wanted to – it was because I had nothing left. And just getting healthy again and feeling good and being unable to live and fight and do what I love and not feel like crap. It’s been years of a lot of difficult stuff, and it’s just a huge relief.”
And while the fight was considerably closer than she wanted, Ladd felt she was the rightful victor on Friday, even if she was worried when the scorecards were being read.
“At the end of any fight like that, there’s always doubt,” she said. Although I felt like I had done enough, it was still frustrating. She’s a very tough opponent, and you never know until they call out your name. So, of course, it was nerve-racking, but did I think I did enough? Yes.”
Check out Ladd’s full interview below, courtesy of MMA Sucka.
Source: https://www.mmafighting.com/2022/11/26/23479443/aspen-ladd-kayla-harrison-larissa-pacheco-resumes-absolutely-nothing-compared-to-mine?rand=96749
