UFC women’s bantamweight had her appeal of her sudden first round KO by Germaine de Randamie denied by the California State Athletic Commission. Ladd attempted to change the loss to a no-contest based on referee Herb Dean’s quick stoppage.
The fight was the main event of a UFC Fight Night in Sacramento this past July. Ladd, a local to the area, was stopped in the first munite of the fight by a de Randamie punch. The previously unbeaten Ladd was floored but before she could attempt a defense, Herb Dean called an end to the fight.
Ladd’s manager filed an appeal to the fight claiming that Dean was out of position to make the call that her fighter was in peril. In further correspondence with the commission, Ladd claimed that the fight was stopped prematurely because she was a woman and if the fight involved men, it would have continued. Originally, Ladd’s manager filled out the Appeal Form provided by the State of California checking a box that there was collusion involving the referee. But, it was later changed to another box citing a violation of a rule or regulation.
Aspen Ladd’s appeal today before the CSAC was based on the fact that “Herb was not in the right position to stop the fight” and her questioning if it would have been stopped earlier if she were a man. Feel bad for Ladd’s loss but this was not too persuasive #UFC #MMA pic.twitter.com/cAyz4coMU8
— Jason Cruz (@dilletaunt) October 16, 2019
The referee of the match-up, longtime veteran Herb Dean, stated he did not stop the fight based on gender.
Herb Dean: “I’m not a gender discriminator.” Asked if he stopped the fight because Ladd is a woman, Dean says “no.”
— Marc Raimondi (@marc_raimondi) October 15, 2019
Dean has been criticized for stopping matches too late and/or too soon. Nevertheless, it appears that this was another judgment call made by Dean.
The below was his official statement sent in to the commission prior to Tuesday’s hearing:
In addition, de Randamie sent her own statement which, as one might expect, supported Dean’s decision to stop the fight.
The Commission entertained the gender discrimination claim citing that it would be a violation of anti-discrimination laws if this were the case.
But the problem with Ladd’s claim as it was presented to the Commission was that it was just anecdotal. Meaning, she can argue that women fights are stopped quicker than male fights but without valid data proving this theory, its just conjecture. While the vote was 3-2 in upholding the TKO loss (Ladd’s only blemish), the decision by Dean to stop the fight is a judgment call and unless there was compelling evidence that there was a stoppage based on her gender, there was no evidence suggesting Ladd’s claims were true. Moreover, there was no rule or regulation cited which would point to evidence that a rule or regulation was not followed. Simply put, while it may have been a bad referee call, Dean made his decision. The job of a referee is hard because they are criticized for letting fights go on too long allowing a hurt fighter to suffer unnecessary damage and then, like in this case, they don’t let a fight continue. In this instance, its likely the right call was made to uphold the appeal.
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