One of the best bantamweights in the UFC is making her return. ESPN’s Brett Okamoto was the first to report today that Aspen Ladd (9-1) will be making her return to the octagon and she will be taking on Macy Chiasson (7-1).
The matchup will take place at a UFC Fight Night on July 24th. Chiasson is going to have a massive opportunity to play spoiler on July 24th. For the last few years, Aspen Ladd has been widely considered one of the best prospects in MMA.
She will make the walk on July 24th ranked third in the bantamweight division while Chiasson is ranked ninth. The UFC‘s ninth ranked bantamweight has won two in a row and she’s 5-1 in the octagon for her career.
She competed only once in 2020 and defeated Shanna Young by decision. She returned just a couple of weeks ago at UFC Vegas 22 and defeated Marion Reneau by unanimous decision. A win over Ladd would be massive for her career.
UFC return for Aspen Ladd
As mentioned, Aspen Ladd has been one of the biggest prospects in the UFC over the last few years. Her lone blemish in the octagon came against Germaine de Randamie who landed the perfect shot just seconds into their fight.
However, outside of that, Ladd has been tremendous. In her last fight, she stopped the durable Yana Kunitskaya in the third round. After that win, the UFC set her up to take on former Olympian and title challenger, Sara McMann.
However, Ladd tore her ACL and she hasn’t competed since. This will be her first fight in the UFC since December of 2019. Chiasson is a super tough contender and not an easy opponent for Ladd to come back to.
Given the status of the division, this fight is extremely important. If Ladd is able to come out and dominate, she could be in position to have a title eliminator in her next UFC bout. For Chiasson, this is an opportunity to bust into the top five and make some noise at 135.