Aspen Ladd will enter the PFL’s 2023 featherweight season however gained’t rule out the potential for particular one-offs.
Ladd (10-3), who left the UFC earlier this 12 months after a plethora of weight-cutting points, was victorious in her promotional debut, defeating former Bellator champion Julia Budd by cut up choice in a girls’s featherweight showcase bout final Friday on the 2022 PFL Championships.
With potential massive fights towards 2022 PFL light-weight champ Larissa Pacheco and two-time Olympic gold medalist Kayla Harrison on the market, Ladd is protecting her choices open as the brand new 12 months approaches.
“I need to do each,” Ladd informed MMA Junkie Radio. “So if one thing was to happen earlier than the season or after the season or no matter, I’d love to try this. However I’m undoubtedly planning on going into the season proper now.”
Pacheco scored a large upset win against Harrison within the girls’s light-weight remaining, handing Harrison the primary lack of her profession. However with Harrison having already defeated Pacheco twice prior to now, Ladd isn’t certain which path the PFL will go or how that would impression the potential for preventing them.
“It’s an fascinating scenario, although, as a result of it’s not like they solely fought a couple of times,” Ladd mentioned. “In the event that they rematch, it’s gonna be their fourth time, and on this scenario, a rematch is normally what is sensible. Yeah, it undoubtedly has implications for me however not in a match format. May I struggle both a type of girls exterior of the match? Sure, and I’d gladly do it.
“However clearly the world at massive thought Kayla was gonna win, so now it’s actually what does Larissa need to do? What does the PFL need to do? Do they need that rematch?”
The trilogy between Pacheco and Harrison was shut. Of their two earlier fights that each went the space, Pacheco misplaced all eight rounds mixed. On the 2022 PFL Championships, all three judges scored it for her 48-47, although she spent a good period of time on her again.
Ladd “undoubtedly” thought Pacheco gained.
“I believed it was a very nice, aggressive struggle,” Ladd mentioned. “I undoubtedly thought Larissa gained and by the point it obtained to the top of it, as any person watching and as a fighter that – I do know higher than lots of people, however I’m nonetheless not a decide although some judges shouldn’t be judges, however I undoubtedly thought (Pacheco) gained that struggle.
