Aspen Ladd’s debut vs. former Bellator champ set for 2022 PFL Championships
Aspen Ladd will make her PFL debut against a former Bellator champion.
Ladd (9-3) is slated to meet Julia Budd (16-4) in a women’s featherweight matchup at the 2022 PFL Championships season finale event on Nov. 25. The event takes place at Hulu Theater in New York City. The main card airs via pay-per-view.
MMA Junkie verified the booking with multiple people close to the situation following an initial report from MMA Mania. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity because the promotion has yet to make an announcement.
Ladd, 27, signed with PFL earlier this month after parting ways with the UFC following a seven-fight tenure. UFC president Dana White said positive things about Ladd following her release, but said her well-documented weight cutting issues could not be overlooked and “had to happen.”
It’s now a new chapter in Ladd’s career, and she’ll fights one of the more decorated fighters in women’s 145-pound history in Budd, 39. The former Bellator titleholder signed with PFL in 2021, but she lost her promotional debut against Kaitlin Young in October 2021. She was scheduled to fight Kayla Harrison in July, but was forced to withdraw due to injury.
The latest 2022 PFL Championships lineup now includes:
Kayla Harrison vs. Larissa Pacheco – for women’s lightweight championship
Bubba Jenkins vs. Brendan Loughnane – for featherweight championship
Olivier Aubin-Mercier vs. Stevie Ray – for lightweight championship
Sadibou Sy vs. Dilano Taylor – for welterweight championship
Omari Akhmedov vs. Rob Wilkinson – for light heavyweight championship
Ante Delija vs. Matheus Scheffel – for heavyweight championship
Shane Burgos vs. Marlon Moraes
Julia Budd vs. Aspen Ladd
Biaggio Ali Walsh vs. opponent TBA
