Ladd vs Shakalova

Who won Ladd vs Shakalova?

Aspen Ladd beat Ekaterina Shakalova by unanimous decision in their 3 round contest during the prelims of Bellator Champions Series, on Friday 17th May 2024 at Accor Arena in Paris.

The scorecards were announced in favor of the winner Aspen Ladd.

The fight was scheduled to take place over 3 rounds in the Women’s Featherweight division, which meant the weight limit was 145 pounds (10.4 stone or 65.8 KG).

Ladd vs Shakalova stats

Aspen Ladd stepped into the octagon with a record of 11 wins, 5 losses and 0 draws, 6 of those wins coming by the way of knock out and 2 by submission.

Ekaterina Shakalova made her way to the cage with a record of 8 wins, 1 loss and 0 draws, 1 of those win coming by knock out and 4 by submission.

This was Aspen Ladd's 1st fight in Bellator, having made her debut for the promotion in 2024. Ekaterina Shakalova marked her 2nd fight for them, having made her own debut for the promotion in 2023.

Aspen Ladd's Bellator record stood at 1-0-0, while Ekaterina Shakalova's came in at 1-1-0.

The stats suggested Ladd had a massive power advantage over Shakalova, boasting a 55% knock out percentage over Shakalova's 13%.

If the fight went to the ground, their records suggested Shakalova had a massive advantage over Ladd, boasting a 50% submission rate over Ladd's 18%.

Aspen Ladd was the older woman by 3 years, at 29 years old.

Ladd had a height advantage of 4 inches over Shakalova. That also extended to a 3-inch reach advantage.

Ladd was the more experienced professional fighter, having had 7 more fights, and made her debut in 2015, 4 years and 4 months earlier than Shakalova, whose first professional fight was in 2019. She had fought 23 more professional rounds, 43 to Shakalova's 20.

Ladd vs Shakalova form

Ladd had beaten 2 of her last 5 opponents, stopping 1 of them, going to the judges once.

In her last fight leading up to this contest, she had lost to Helena Kolesnyk at PFL 2 on 7th April 2023 by majority decision in their 3 round contest at The Theater at Virgin Hotels, Las Vegas, United States.

Previous to that, she had won against Julia Budd at PFL 2022 #10 -World Championship on 25th November 2022 by split decision in their 3 round contest at Hulu Theater, Madison Square Garden, New York.

Going into that contest, she had been beaten by Raquel Pennington at UFC 273 on 9th April 2022 by unanimous decision in their 3 round contest at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena, Jacksonville.

Before that, she had been defeated by Norma Dumont at UFC Vegas 40 on 16th October 2021 by unanimous decision in their 5 round contest at UFC APEX, Las Vegas.

She had beaten Yana Santos at UFC on ESPN 7 on 7th December 2019 by knockout in the 3rd round at Capital One Arena, Washington D.C..

Activity check

Ladd's last 5 fights had come over a period of 4 years, 7 months and 17 days, meaning she had been fighting on average every 11 months and 4 days. In those fights, she fought a total of 17 rounds, meaning that they had lasted 3.4 rounds on average.

What were the odds on Ladd vs Shakalova?

Aspen Ladd was a 11/20 (-200) favourite going into the contest, while Ekaterina Shakalova made her way into the ring at 5/4 (+140) with oddsmakers.