Preview: UFC 273 Prelims

Women’s Bantamweights

#7 WBW | Raquel Pennington (13-8, 10-5 UFC) vs. #4 WBW | Aspen Ladd (9-2, 4-2 UFC)

BETUS ODDS: Pennington (-180), Ladd (+150)

The vibes around Ladd’s career are not great at the moment, but she also has a big chance here to start turning her momentum around. Ladd came to the UFC in 2017 as one of the bantamweight division’s brighter prospects. Just 22 years old at the time, the Californian faced little resistance in marching her opponents down and pounding out stoppage after stoppage—a trend that continued through her first few UFC fights. Still, there was a bit of whiplash when Ladd got the sudden push up the ladder in 2019. After winning a grimy affair against Sijara Eubanks on a UFC Fight Night undercard, Ladd shockingly got the call for a main event slot and a huge step up in competition against Germaine de Randamie. That went poorly for Ladd, who was stunned and stopped in just 16 seconds, but she rebounded well enough to cap off 2019, responding to a fiery between-rounds speech from her coach-slash-boyfriend Jim West to quickly run over Yana Kunitskaya at the start of the third round. That figured to start another run up the ladder for Ladd, but instead, it led to what has wound up as nearly two and a half lost years. Ladd missed all of 2020 due to a major knee injury, and her attempts to make it to the cage in 2021 eventually renewed fears that she could even make bantamweight, with her October booking against Macy Chiasson falling apart after a visibly botched weight cut. That led to Ladd quickly stepping in for a short-notice fight up at featherweight against Norma Dumont, which was a distressingly flat performance. Ladd’s wrestling did not lead much of anywhere, which tempered her usual aggression, and that, in turn, put the post-fight focus on West’s dramatic attempts to get her head back in the fight and their relationship as fighter and coach. Now Ladd faces two challenges: proving she can make it down to 135 pounds and attempting to turn around the narrative of her career against Pennington.



In contrast to Ladd, Pennington is as steady as ever. More or less from the jump of her UFC career in 2013, “Rocky” has stood out as a reliably tough test for anyone in the division, maximizing her limited physical gifts while dragging her opponents into grimy affairs. That has hit a clear ceiling against the absolute physical and technical standouts of the bantamweight division, but Pennington still found enough momentum to earn a 2018 title shot against Amanda Nunes, even if that did not end particularly well for the Coloradan. Pennington might be slowing down a bit after such a physically demanding career, but she is still riding her second-longest winning streak to date, stringing together three straight wins and even scoring a rare stoppage by submitting Chiasson in December. This pairing could be exactly what Ladd needs to turn things around. Pennington is not physically imposing, and Ladd’s loss to Dumont may have just been a lesson that her approach is only built to work at 135 pounds, assuming she can make it down to that weight class. However, between the concerns over the weight cut, how flat Ladd looked in that performance and Pennington’s gritty consistency, the former title contender seems like the much safer bet to stick to a grind and eventually find a way to gain the momentum for good. The pick is Pennington via decision.

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