Aspen Ladd plans to “start faster” at PFL 5 believing she needs “a first-round finish” to advance to playoffs

Aspen Ladd knows the stakes are high for her 2023 PFL 5 fight against Karolina Sobek.

Ladd lost her season-opening fight by a majority decision to Olena Kolesnyk. It was a close fight that Ladd really took over late in the bout, so with that, she knows she needs to start faster and be aggressive out of the gate.

“Start faster, that is the main takeaway from that. I need to start faster… We have been working on that since I’ve gotten back. My cardio is good and that is never an issue,” Ladd said on Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com. “The problem is, the longer the fight is, the better I do. So, we have been treating it like a five-minute fight, that is all the time I get.”

After her loss to Kolesnyk in April, Aspen Ladd knew her next fight was on June 16 at 2023 PFL 5, so she got back right into the gym, but didn’t know she would be facing Karolina Sobek until a month or so out.

RELATED: Aspen Ladd explains why she’s on top of the world following UFC departure.

Once the opponent got finalized, Ladd admits she didn’t know much about Sobek but says the focus is solely on her own performance anyway.

“I’m not familiar with her at all. She fought the same night as me and I saw some of it, and I have done these interviews and some say she is a striker, some say she is a grappler, so I guess she does everything,” Ladd said. “But, I’m not that all familiar with her but I didn’t even find out my opponent until like a month out, you know potential opponents but don’t know the exact opponent until you are close to the fight.”

Even though Aspen Ladd isn’t familiar with Karolina Sobek, the UFC veteran knows she not only needs to win but likely needs a first-round finish to get six points to advance to the playoffs. With Ladd likely needing six points, she plans to be aggressive and hunt for the finish right out of the gates to secure herself a playoff spot.

“Going into the second fight and needing points, I need a first-round finish and that is the focus… It can change the approach that is for sure. So much is riding on getting enough points to continue, it’s not just the win that matters, it’s the points. I’m learning as I go as far as that goes,” Ladd concluded.