Aspen Ladd Tears ACL and MCL, Out of UFC Vegas Bout With Sara McMann

Mandatory Credit: Jeff Bottari - Zuffa LLC

Perennial bantamweight contender, Aspen Ladd's run to the division's championship has taken quite the significant falter.

The 26-year-old was scheduled to meet with former title challenger, Sara McMann at a UFC Fight Night Vegas event next weekend - but has been forced to withdraw from the tie, after she suffered a torn ACL and MCL in preparation for the bout. News of the injury was first penned by MMA Junkie's, John Morgan.

Taking to her official Instagram account on Friday night, the Folsom native explained how she'll find out if surgery is required later this week, but still plans on competing before the year ends.

"Unfortunately, for the first time in my career I'm being pulled due to injury. This is me right now, finally home after an #mri today and a long talk with a very good doctor. So here's the timeline, I got injured on my last hard day of training last week but still planned on toughing it out and fighting. I didn't realize quite how bad it was. I have been training on it since the initial injury to the best of my abilities and my weight was(is) super low already. So I was thinking I had this. Anyways, I had planned on getting a cortisone shot, and when I showed up to that appointment yesterday the concerned doc ultrasounded (sic) my knee, then booked the #mri stat. Turns out I just have a REALLY high pain tolerance. I have 2 grade 3 tears and a couple other injuries going on. I'll know later this week lif (sic) surgery is in my future, but hope to be back in the cage before the end of the year. Honesty is the best policy so here you go, sucks because I feel phenomenal otherwise #sh*thappens #timetofixit #ufc"

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Unfortunately, for the first time in my career I'm being pulled due to injury. This is me right now, finally home after an #mri today and a long talk with a very good doctor. So here's the timeline, I got injured on my last hard day of training last week but still planned on toughing it out and fighting, I didn't realize quite how bad it was. I have been training on it since the initial injury to the best of my abilities and my weight was( is) super low already. So I was thinking I had this. Anyways, I had planned on getting a cortisone shot, and when I showed up to that appointment yesterday the concerned doc ultrasounded my knee, then booked the #mri stat . Turns out I just have a REALLY high pain tolerance. I have 2 grade 3 tears and a couple other injuries going on. I'll know later this week Iif surgery is in my future, but hope to be back in the cage before the end of the year. Honesty is the best policy so here you go, sucks because I feel phenomenal otherwise #shithappens #timetofixit #ufc

A post shared by Aspen Ladd (@aspenladd) on Jun 19, 2020 at 5:55pm PDT

Ladd last featured at UFC Fight Night D.C. in December last year, returning to the winner's enclosure, with a rallying performance opposite former Invicta FC bantamweight best, Yana Kunitskaya. The third-frame knockout resulted in Ladd securing the #3 rank in the official UFC bantamweight rankings.

The promotion are actively searching for a replacement for Ladd, which would allow veteran, Olympic silver medalist, McMann to remain on next weekend's card.