Former 135lb champ Holly Holm will return to the weight class to take on Aspen Ladd at UFC 235 next March.
Former UFC women’s bantamweight champion and former featherweight title challenger Holly Holm is getting back in the octagon in March. And she’ll be competing at 135lbs when she does so. Friday afternoon, the UFC announced that Holm would face Aspen Ladd at UFC 235 in Las Vegas. It’s Holm’s first fight since she defeated Megan Anderson at UFC 225 earlier this year.
The veteran vs the rising star!@HollyHolm meets @AspenLaddMMA at #UFC235 in Las Vegas! pic.twitter.com/p8UAplhboi
— UFC (@ufc) December 21, 2018
That doesn’t bode well for the women’s featherweight division, the weight class that never was. Holm (12-4) fought her last two bouts at 145lbs, losing a unanimous decision against champ Cris Cyborg that was nevertheless the most competitive fight of Cyborg’s career. After the loss, she bounced back against Anderson. Holm also competed in the inaugural women’s featherweight title fight in the UFC, losing to Germaine de Randamie in a controversial decision marred by fouls on de Randamie’s part.
Aspen Ladd, meanwhile, came into the UFC as one of the hottest prospects in women’s bantamweight over the past couple of years. Ladd (7-0) has defeated Lina Lansberg and Tonya Evinger thus far in her UFC tenure. Prior to that, she went 5-0 under the Invicta FC banner.
UFC 235 takes place March 2, 2019 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
