Women to Watch at UFC Fight Night 210
Rolling off of momentum from the historic UFC 279 pay-per-view card that took place in Las Vegas last weekend, we have a fight night headlined by two bantamweight favorites Cory Sandhagen and Song Yadong. This fight is highly anticipated and expected to be a striking showcase with 9 performance of the night & fight of the night bonuses shared between the two contenders. This fight is not the only fight of the night with high stakes as we have Aspen Ladd and Sara McMann looking to show that they still belong in the women’s bantamweight rankings.
Although invicta alum Aspen Ladd pulled out of their first scheduled bout at UFC San Diego a little over one month ago due to testing positive for COVID-19, she is closing at a -135 favorite against McMann coming into their fight this weekend. Ladd made her UFC debut in 2017 and has gone 4-3 with her first loss coming via tko against the former champ Germaine de Randamie. Aspen burst into the UFC on a 3 fight win streak and despite her recent losing streak, has managed to secure all but one of her wins via KO/TKO. Ladd is an orthodox striker with a 47% striking accuracy, 66” reach and an impressive 62% takedown defense. Although Ladd emerged into the UFC as a strong contender and is still fairly young at 27 years old, she will need to pull off a convincing win against McMann to reassure her position in the UFC.
Sara McMann, a veteran of the sport, made her UFC debut on the Jones vs Sonnen card in 2013. She is coming into this fight as the underdog winning 2 of her last 5 fights. The silver Olympic gold medalist is primarily a wrestler with a 65% takedown accuracy. She is the less busy fighter of the two when it comes to striking, landing 2.2 of her strikes per minute in comparison to Ladd’s 3.7. It should be of note that in the fights McMann has recently lost, she has shown impressive performances up until getting subbed in the 2nd or 3rd round. McMann is fighting her last fight on her contract with the UFC and I believe she will need to put on a solid performance or take the win in order to be re-signed with the promotion. McMann acknowledged the potential of a back and forth fight with Ladd in her interview with MMA News, so I believe she is coming into this fight well prepared and ready to compete whether it be standing or on the ground.
The Breakdown & Prediction
Looking at this fight statistically, this is almost a perfect match up. Both women are coming into this fight willing to put everything on the line to prove their right to be in the UFC. They share the same reach, the same height, same striking defense rate & just one percentage off when it comes to their striking accuracy rate. McMann has an advantage over Ladd in the wrestling department but Ladd is the younger fighter by 14 years. I believe that Ladd needs to use her age and high takedown defense rate to her advantage & keep this fight on the feet in order to win. In McMann’s past few fights, she has shown less striking output in the later rounds but continues to have the control time advantage over her opponents if she is able to get them to the ground. Ladd has proven that she has power on the feet but lately has had trouble moving forward and turning on that switch when need be. I believe that Ladd can finish the fight in the later rounds if she came prepared, but when going off of the most recent performances of both fighters and taking into account Ladd’s possible health disadvantage, I believe that McMann will stick to the game plan that has done her well in the UFC by utilizing the takedown, controlling Ladd on the ground and taking the decision win. Enjoy the fights!
Prediction:
Sara McMann via Decision
(Please note: This prediction is not associated with the MMAPlay365 packages, subscriptions or services)