MMAOB staff writer Adam Martin takes a deeper look at the main event of UFC Vegas 40, a five-round women’s featherweight bout between Aspen Ladd and Norma Dumont. The event takes place on Saturday, October 16 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Aspen Ladd (-150)
Ladd (9-1) is the No. 3 ranked women’s bantamweight in the UFC. The 26-year-old American is 4-1 overall in the UFC with wins over Yana Kunitskaya, Sijara Eubanks, Tonya Evinger, and Lina Lansberg, with her lone loss coming against Germaine de Randamie. Ladd is a dominant grappler who is able to get the majority of her opponents down to the mat where she can control them and smash them with ground and pound. Anytime Ladd is able to get her opponent on their backs, she is going to be in a good position to win the fight. Her standup does need work, as she doesn’t move her head much and can get clipped by a superior striker. But anytime she is able to get her opponent down the mat and bully them, Ladd looks like a world-beater and a title contender. It will be interesting to see how she looks up at 145lbs now that she has been bumped up a division.
Norma Dumont (+130)
Dumont (6-1) is one of the top women’s featherweights in the UFC. The 31-year-old Brazilian is 2-1 so far in the UFC with decision wins over Felicia Spencer and Ashlee Evans-Smith and a knockout loss to Megan Anderson. Dumont is a big girl who also grew out of the bantamweight division and she has looked good so far in her return to 145lbs. She also has good volume striking on the feet. That being said, Dumont could stand to gain some more experience.
Fight Breakdown: This should be an interesting fight given the bizarre circumstances of it being put together. Remember, Dumont was originally set to fight Holly Holm on this card at 145lbs, and Ladd was supposed to have fought two weeks ago at 135lbs. With Ladd missing weight for her last bantamweight fight, she jumps back into the Octagon just two weeks later for this featherweight fight. Even though she won’t have to cut as much weight, it does really worry me that she is cutting weight two times in such a short period of time. Moreover, Ladd is also coming off of a two-year layoff heading into this fight, so multiple factors are going against her heading into this fight.
Stylistically, both Ladd and Dumont have solid grappling skills, though Ladd has shown a more dominant ground game so far in the UFC. The thing is, those fights took place at 135lbs, and I’m not sure she will have the same strength up at 145lbs. If she can’t get Dumont down, then Ladd will have to stand and strike, and I’m not sold on her abilities as a striker. To me, Dumont has the better volume, the better head movement, and likely a little bit more power. After seeing Felicia Spencer struggle to take down Dumont, I think Ladd is going to have issues taking her down, too. Let’s go with the upset here and lean towards Dumont to win a decision in a breakthrough performance.
Prediction: Norma Dumont
