UFC Hall of Famer Michael Bisping is coming to the defense of Aspen Ladd’s coach, Jim West.
Depending on which side of the fence you were on, you either praised West’s corner work during Ladd’s fight with Norma Dumont, or you felt it was too harsh. West was brutally honest with Ladd on her performance and even shouted at her to try to fire her up. Ultimately, Dumont won the fight via unanimous decision.
In a new video posted on his YouTube channel, Michael Bisping said that while West could’ve adjusted his tone, he doesn’t disagree with the advice.
“I get that, I understand. I did say at one point, ‘Is the approach right?’ What I meant was instead of saying, “Hey, what are you doing? You have to go out there and fight!’ What I meant was maybe say the same things but change your tone of voice. Say, ‘Come on Aspen. Have we come this far, have we done all this work really for you to just not do this? Come on, come on Aspen. Let’s do this.’
“That’s what I meant. I didn’t mean change anything he was saying. Cause I’m telling you right now if that was me fighting and I wasn’t doing jack sh*t and I wasn’t showing up and I wasn’t trying to win, then of course I would want my coach to be honest with me. I would want my coach to say exactly what Jim West said. If you watch BT Sport’s highlight of it, in round one he was very calm, round two he was kinda calm, round three he was starting to lose his mind. Round four and five he was full-on losing his sh*t. Why is that? It’s because he cares.”
Ladd will have to go back to the drawing board after many considered her to be primed for a women’s featherweight title shot. Ladd has had a history of weight-cutting problems and many would prefer that she stays at 145 pounds. Whether or not she can make significant adjustments following the loss to Dumont remains to be seen.
