Germaine de Randamie Says Aspen Ladd ‘Didn’t Know Where She Was’ Prior to Stoppage

When it comes to striking in women’s MMA, one would be hard-pressed to find someone better than Germaine de Randamie, and maybe that’s why Herb Dean stopped her match with Aspen Ladd so quickly.

De Randamie captured the WIKBA, IMTF and WPKL championships in kickboxing during a career that saw her go 37-0 with 14 knockouts. The Dutch fighter was also crowned the UFC’s inaugural women’s featherweight champion. In other words, she’s no slouch on her feet and Ladd (8-1) felt that power en route to being TKO’ed in just 16 seconds at UFC Sacramento.

De Randamie dropped Ladd with a powerful right hook and then landed a glancing blow to her foe’s chest just before Dean intervened. Ladd wasn’t knocked out and, and though she was woozy, seemed to have her faculties as she tried latching onto de Randamie’s legs. The sellout crowd in Sacramento booed the UFC Fight Night 155 main event and social media exploded, crying foul that the fight was stopped much too soon.

“I hit her on the button and Herb Dean called it,” de Randamie said immediately following her triumph on Saturday. “I rocked her with a second shot.”

As the crowd was disappointed and lustily booing the ref’s decision while de Randamie was being interviewed by UFC Hall of Famer Michael Bisping, she took the chaos in stride: “I understand, Sacramento. It’s OK. I understand.”

Dean’s decision to halt the contest so suddenly wasn’t de Randamie’s fault, obviously. “The Iron lady” was simply doing her job, but she felt that the stoppage was justified. And, as many have pointed out, the veteran referee’s intervention saved Ladd from what could have been a brutal knockout.

“I dropped her and she didn’t know where she was,” she said. “It was a nice clean shot and a good stoppage. Aspen, I have much respect for you. It was an honor.”

De Randamie (9-3) was stripped of her 145-pound title when she refused to fight Cris Cyborg, taking a stance against the Brazilian’s previous infractions with failed drug screens. Since losing to current bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes nearly six years ago, the AKA fighter has rattled off five straight wins. Though she hasn’t been competing on a regular basis, de Randamie said she wants to be more active and would like a shot at the 135-pound title.

She’s currently the UFC’s No. 1-ranked bantamweight and is in line for the gold, which would mean a second crack at “Lioness.” However, de Randamie didn’t call Nunes out and opted to remain mum as to what she’d like to unfold in the coming months.

“I don’t know what’s next, we’ll see,” she said when asked about fighting Nunes or someone else. “We’ll ask the UFC what’s next.”