Talk about intensity.
Aspen Ladd was made to wait for her UFC debut, having fallen ill with food poisoning in July and being forced to withdraw from her scheduled bout with Jessica Eye.
And the undefeated bantamweight let out every ounce of frustration that came with that delay when she finally stepped through the Octagon doors for the first time this weekend.
On Saturday night, Ladd stretched her perfect professional record to 6-0 when she overcame a rough opening round with Lina Lansberg to get the TKO midway through the second frame of their bout on the preliminary card of UFC Gdansk.
The 22-year-old found herself in mount halfway through the round but, rather than methodically land shots and rack up favour in the eyes of the judges, Ladd let it all out.
BIG debut for @AspenLaddMMA!
Picks up the TKO win at #UFCGdansk pic.twitter.com/pyFJqPLEnK
— UFC Canada (@UFC_CA) October 21, 2017
Eerie shrieks pierced the Ergo Arena air in sync with the heavy ground-and-pound which was raining down on Ladd’s Swedish opponent.
Following the unanswered flurry, referee Lukasz Bosacki had clearly seen and definitely heard quite enough as he waved proceedings off and made the wait worthwhile for Ladd, who might just be the breath of fresh air needed in the women’s 135lbs division.
