Knee Injury Forces Bantamweight Aspen Ladd Out of UFC on ESPN 12

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream the UFC live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app.

Advertisement

A knee injury has forced bantamweight Aspen Ladd to withdraw from a scheduled encounter with Sara McMann at UFC on ESPN 12 next week.

Ladd announced the news on her Instgram account Friday night. The 25-year-old Californian had been victorious in four of her first five UFC bouts, a stretch that includes TKO triumphs over Yana Kunitskaya, Tonya Evinger and Lina Lansberg.

“Unfortunately, for the first time in my career I'm being pulled due to injury. This is me right now, finally home after an [MRI] today and a long talk with a very good doctor,” Ladd wrote. “So here's the timeline: I got injured on my last hard day of training last week but still planned on toughing it out and fighting, I didn't realize quite how bad it was. I have been training on it since the initial injury to the best of my abilities and my weight was (is) super low already. So I was thinking I had this.

“Anyways, I had planned on getting a cortisone shot, and when I showed up to that appointment yesterday the concerned doc ultrasounded my knee, then booked the [MRI] stat . Turns out I just have a REALLY high pain tolerance. I have [two] grade 3 tears and a couple other injuries going on. I'll know later this week if surgery is in my future, but hope to be back in the cage before the end of the year. Honesty is the best policy so here you go; sucks because I feel phenomenal otherwise.”

UFC on ESPN 12 takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on June 27 and is headlined by a featherweight clash between Dustin Poirier vs. Dan Hooker. According to multiple reports, the promotion is searching for a replacement opponent for McMann.

View this post on Instagram

Unfortunately, for the first time in my career I'm being pulled due to injury. This is me right now, finally home after an #mri today and a long talk with a very good doctor. So here's the timeline, I got injured on my last hard day of training last week but still planned on toughing it out and fighting, I didn't realize quite how bad it was. I have been training on it since the initial injury to the best of my abilities and my weight was( is) super low already. So I was thinking I had this. Anyways, I had planned on getting a cortisone shot, and when I showed up to that appointment yesterday the concerned doc ultrasounded my knee, then booked the #mri stat . Turns out I just have a REALLY high pain tolerance. I have 2 grade 3 tears and a couple other injuries going on. I'll know later this week Iif surgery is in my future, but hope to be back in the cage before the end of the year. Honesty is the best policy so here you go, sucks because I feel phenomenal otherwise #shithappens #timetofixit #ufc

A post shared by Aspen Ladd (@aspenladd) on Jun 19, 2020 at 5:55pm PDT