Former UFC featherweight champion Germaine de Randamie earned a controversial 16-second TKO win over Aspen Ladd in the main event spot of UFC Sacramento this weekend, but referee Herb Dean has come under heavy criticism for the stoppage.

De Randamie dropped Ladd with a straight right just over 10 seconds into the bout, with Ladd hitting the canvas hard.

The Dutch-woman moved in for a follow-up, with one punch connecting with Ladd's shoulder.

Ladd didn't appear to be finished, but Dean jumped in to stop the action after just 16 seconds.

Watch the fight below:

Germaine de Randamie | #UFCSacramento



"The Iron Lady" derrota a Aspen Ladd en 16 segundos por KO en la pelea estelar. La holandesa consigue su quinta victoria consecutiva anotándose el nocaut más rápido de la división gallo femenil. ¿Detención prematura? pic.twitter.com/3ZjZzWZosZ — El rincón de las MMA (@RinconMMA) July 14, 2019









"I hit her, Herb Dean called it," de Randamie said.

"I rocked her with a second shot. Listen Sacramento, I understand.

"If you look at the shot, I dropped her. She didn't know where she was at that moment. Boom. It was a nice clean shot.

"I think it was a good stoppage. Aspen, I have much respect for you, it was an honour."

Ladd was philosophical after the first defeat of her professional career.

"Shit happens. Sorry I'll be back better," she said.

"He did what he thought was best. I felt fine, but I can't judge these things."

Former UFC middleweight champion, turned commentator, Michael Bisping disagreed with the stoppage.

"She went down hard, and she was certainly out of it, but that doesn't mean you're out of it consciously," he said.

"It was a great shot - credit where credit's due to Germaine.

"I'm not trying to give Herb Dean a hard time - it's a very, very difficult job that he has in there.

"But you can see that Aspen Ladd was looking at the referee, thinking 'what the hell?'"

One day earlier, Ladd faced a serious struggle to make the bantamweight limit of 135-pounds, with many believing she should have been sent to hospital rather than the scales.

On Twitter, many people thought Dean was influenced by the scary footage of Ladd's weigh-in.

Makes you wonder if Herb Dean saw Aspen Ladd’s weigh-in yesterday and went into this thinking he’d need to look out for her extra if she got dropped.



Great right hand by GDR. #UFCSacramento — Simon Samano (@SJSamano) July 14, 2019

Can't help but feel Herb Dean was influenced by that weigh-in video of Aspen Ladd from yesterday.



First shot lands, she drops to the floor, you probably assume the worst and step in. Early call, but I can see why. #UFCSacramento — Chris (@ChrisMilIington) July 14, 2019





That might've been stopped early but after seeing Aspen Ladd on the scale yesterday, I can understand why Herb Dean didn't give her the benefit of the doubt. — Mike Chiappetta MMA (@MikeChiappetta) July 14, 2019



