Another Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) veteran is making the move to bare-knuckle brawling.
Former Top 15-ranked UFC Featherweight Aspen Ladd will make her Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) debut next month (Sat., Nov. 15, 2025) at BKFC 84: Dyer vs. Hunt 2, taking on Shyanne Bitliff inside Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert, California.
BKFC 84 will be headlined by Light Heavyweight champion Josh Dyer, who defends his title against former champ Lorenzo Hunt.
Since her disastrous UFC exit — where she missed weight for the third time and was promptly released — Ladd has been competing for Professional Fighters League (PFL), where she went 3-2 overall. She dropped decisions to Kayla Harrison and Olena Kolesnyk but closed out her run with a solid win over Ekaterina Shakalova.
Earlier this year, Ladd signed with GFL and was booked to face Bellator veteran Alejandra Lara; however, the promotion folded before its first event, leaving the matchup dead in the water.
Now, Ladd is ready to throw hands in the bare-knuckle ranks and will look to make an immediate impact in her BKFC debut.
Bitliff, meanwhile, turned heads in her own BKFC debut — not only for scoring a come-from-behind second-round TKO (watch highlights) but also for showing up to ceremonial weigh-ins wearing a pair of assless chaps and a thong (watch above).
Ladd will easily be the toughest opponent Bitliff has faced, but that hasn’t dampened her enthusiasm.
“Happy Birthday to me?! I’d say so,” Bitliff wrote on social media. “For those who don’t recognize that face, she’s fought in UFC, PFL, and Invicta — all tough-ass promotions — and has gone against plenty of names you’d know in this weight class. I am over the moon excited for this opportunity.
“The devil knocks first when opportunity arrives just to whisper, ‘you can’t do this.’ Oh, but no one told him he can’t convince me.”
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