Aspen Ladd says she offered Leslie Smith significantly more money to stay in UFC Atlantic City bout

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – Aspen Ladd claims she did everything possible to bring her fight with Leslie Smith to fruition after missing weight for UFC Fight Night 128.

Ladd (6-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) came in nearly two pounds heavy for her scheduled women’s bantamweight bout with Smith (10-7-1 MMA, 4-3 UFC) at UFC Fight Night 128, which takes place Saturday at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J., and airs on FS1 following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass.

According to Ladd, her menstrual cycle caused interference with plans for her weight cut, and she was only able to make it down to 137.8 pounds. She said she met with a doctor Thursday evening when fears about missing weight began to set in, but she kept cutting this morning. The plug was pulled before the weigh-ins window opened at 9 a.m. ET, and Ladd said she had no option but to step on the scale heavy.

“I’ve been heavy all week,” Ladd told MMAjunkie. “I’ve been doing the best I could, but I dried up last night. (I) consulted the doctor and the decision was made to stop cutting at a certain point. I did everything I could to get down. I understand people are going to say what they’re going to say. It happened.”

Fighters missing weight is hardly an uncommon occurrence, but what happened in the fallout of Ladd’s situation was definitely out of the ordinary. She was set to be fined 20 percent of her purse, but Smith opted not to accept the fight. Ladd pushed harder, and says she offered an additional $5,000 from her $12,000 “show” purse. Smith said she never heard of Ladd’s extra offer.

“I’m very sorry that it happened, I feel terrible about it, but honestly I don’t understand why she wouldn’t take the money and the fight,” Ladd said. “Yes, I feel very bad, but at the same time it’s kind of confusion. She’s been in the UFC for a long time and I know she was set to make a (expletive)-ton of money. Nobody goes into a fighting thinking they’re going to lose. She was going to make a lot.

“As far as I know, whenever that happens you forfeit 20 (percent of your purse). I know that already. Then I started getting information back that she didn’t want to take the fight or something like that. Then I was like, ‘OK, well offer another five grand out of my purse.’ That’s what I did and she still turned it down. At that point I’m like, ‘I don’t know what’s going on here.'”

Smith told MMAjunkie, as well as MMAjunkie Radio, following UFC Fight Night 128 weigh-ins that she didn’t think Ladd put in the appropriate effort to ensure she made weight. That’s the primary reason she turned down the bout, she said, and in the fallout of the situation Smith claims the UFC decided to essentially buy out her contract and send her into free agency.

“They said they had no interest in extending my contract at this time, and instead, they offered me my show and win money,” Smith told MMAjunkie Radio. “So they said they’ll just pay me off, and since they’re giving me the win bonus, it counts as the last fight on my contract. So I guess that would mean I’m a free agent now.”

Both fighters have said they would like to compete against each other as soon as possible, but with Smith off the roster for the time being, it seems unlikely. Ladd said she’s disappointed with the situation and is accepting of the backlash likely to come her way.

“If you want to talk (expletive) you can, obviously it’s free speech and all that,” Ladd said. “I’m very sorry for what happened. I did the best I could to make it right and keep the fight going. But it takes two to tango and the other person didn’t want to keep it going, so it happened.

“I’ll fight her, I’ll fight somebody else. I don’t care. Although if we could reschedule this fight at the nearest opportunity, I definitely would.”

For more on UFC Fight Night 128, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.