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Former UFC and PFL featherweight Aspen Ladd is days from her BKB 58 bare-knuckle boxing bout with Bianca Daimoni, and she used fight week to throw a sharp jab at the UFC’s handling of women’s MMA. Ladd, who has already shared a major stage with Kayla Harrison, said the sport could be headed for a better year outside the UFC machine. The timing is spicy because Ladd is not just talking from the couch. She is 12-5 in MMA, fought in the UFC from 2017 to 2022, moved through the PFL playoff chase and Bellator lanes, and is now fighting under the BKB banner on Aug. 29 in Miami. That is a lot of different promoter flavors, which makes her read on the women’s side of the sport more than random fight-week noise. Speaking with Sean Sheehan ahead of BKB 58, Ladd said the PFL-Bellator idea looked promising at first, then flatly called the execution a disaster. The last couple of years it’s been rough, right? Because with the merger—or supposed to be a merger, right?—with PFL and Bellator, you thought, “Oh, this would be great. They’re absorbing the weight classes. It’s going to be one big thing.” But it wasn’t. That was a disaster. She contrasted that with bare-knuckle boxing gaining steam and women’s boxing getting a bigger spotlight through MVP. There’s UFC not really putting much effort, time or attention into their women’s divisions. But during that same time period, bare knuckle’s taken off. Boxing has really taken off with MVP. Watch the full interview below. The women’s MMA discussion begins around the 9:35 mark. Ladd Points At UFC Development Problem Ladd’s hardest shot was aimed at how the UFC is building its women’s divisions. She pointed to young fighters being pushed before they have enough live rounds against serious opposition. They had one hot prospect last night, and that didn’t go how they wanted. And they’ve brought in a couple girls too, and I just think they’re bringing them in too early, or they’re building their records on people where they’re not really getting that experience before they get to the big show. And then they get to the big show, and their potential stars are falling flat. The timing strongly suggests she was referring to Bella Mir’s DWCS upset loss. Mir entered Dana White’s Contender Series with a famous last name and heavy prospect shine, then Alex Apodaca blew the script up and grabbed the UFC contract instead. Ladd said Invicta used to be valuable because fighters could build against real competition before reaching the biggest stage. Back in the day, you had a bunch of promotions, like Invicta. Invicta was amazing. That’s where I did my first five fights, where you’re fighting real competition before you get to the big stage, or the biggest stage. So I think it’s really suffering from not much care. There’s been a lot of lack of opportunity and then pushing young fighters a little too fast. There is a business layer here too. Ladd is talking while the fight world keeps testing new lanes for women’s combat sports, from MVP’s boxing push to more bare-knuckle opportunities and the latest PFL shuffle. Ronda Rousey has also been tied to MVP’s MMA experiment, which has kept the women’s side of the sport in the headlines beyond the UFC’s Octagon. Ladd’s own next test is not a theory seminar. She said bare-knuckle boxing is a present-tense goal rather than a late-career detour. I feel like a lot of people get into bare knuckle at the end of their careers, right? And that was never my intent. I wanted to come into it young and strong and for this to be my focus. I might go back and forth, but there’s no either-or for me. Right now, my complete goal is BKB and to obtain multiple belts in BKB. She is set to meet Bianca Daimoni at BKB 58, after scoring a first-round bare-knuckle knockout last November. Ladd described Daimoni as an experienced, physical counterstriker. Yeah, she’s tough. She’s done this a couple times now, at least with this promotion, and her last fight she dropped a decision to one of their champions. So she’s fought good opponents when she’s been here. She’s a big girl, tough, good counterstriker. So yeah, she’s a good opponent. The Miami card already has extra bite, and Ladd just gave the women’s MMA debate another punch to chew on before fight night.