TORONTO – Aspen Ladd was denied when she tried to appeal her July TKO loss to Germaine de Randamie at UFC on ESPN+ 13.

Ladd was dropped by a big right hand just 16 seconds into the fight, followed by one more shot before referee Herb Dean jumped in to stop the fight. A disappointed Ladd immediately tried to contest the stoppage, claiming it was early, and even filed an appeal to the California State Athletic Commission.

Ladd’s team argued that gender played a role in the stoppage because she’s a woman, which might not have been the case if she was a male fighter. Her appeal was denied last week by a vote of 3-2 after Dean defended his case, saying he doesn’t discriminate against women.

Former referee turned Bellator analyst John McCarthy agrees with the CSAC’s decision to uphold de Randamie’s win and explained why during a Q&A session on Monday.

“I used to have people all the time ask me, ‘How do you referee women different than men?’ You don’t,” McCarthy said. “It’s exactly the same. What about the groin? Women have a groin. It may not be the same, but it’s the same rule, and if a woman gets hit in the groin, stop, time, you get your time.”

“Aspen got hit by a girl, a lady, a female fighter that hits like a truck,” McCarthy added. “Germaine can hit. Germaine has actually fought men in professional fights, I’ll tell you right now. I do not agree with that. I don’t believe in the whole Henry Cejudo intergender … OK, there’s differences and there’s reasons why we can have separate categories in sports, weight, just everything. But she got hit with a right hand, and it was … She got spun around, dropped down to her hands and knees. Did she move?”

McCarthy referenced the controversial refereeing in the Mike Davis vs. Thomas Gifford fight earlier this month at UFC on ESPN+ 19, where Gifford took an absolute beating. Many believed that fight should have been stopped before Gifford took unnecessary damage that could affect his career in the long run.

While McCarthy believes the Ladd stoppage might’ve have been a little early, he believes Dean did her a favor, as she was just going to take unnecessary follow up shots if the fight continued.

“So Aspen Ladd, in that fight, yes she could have taken one more,” McCarthy said. “I’m telling you right now: She was done. She was not going to make it out of that. Herb actually saved her. I’m not saying it was the best; it was a little early, but he actually saved her from a beating, and she’s going to be able to come back, and she’s going to do just fine because he didn’t let that happen to her. I know it’s frustrating to her. She can’t see the future, but a lot of times the referee, I swear to God, you can see the future, and Herb, it was the right call. I thought it was early too.”

Ladd has moved on as she is scheduled to take on Yana Kunitskaya on Dec. 7 at UFC on ESPN 7 in Washington D.C.