LAS VEGAS – Norma Dumont is proud of her win over Aspen Ladd in Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 195 main event.

Despite a relatively lackluster unanimous decision victory over Ladd (9-2 MMA, 4-2 UFC) in the women’s featherweight headliner at the UFC Apex, Dumont (7-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) thinks she was able to show the world more of her skillset in the 25-minute affair.

Moreover, Dumont is just happy she was able to compete after nearly losing her opportunity when Holly Holm pulled out on short notice.

“I knew (Ladd) was going to give me a fun fight,” Dumont told MMA Junkie and other media through an interpreter post-fight at UFC Fight Night 195. “She saved me because we were on the verge of not having one. She is a tough fighter, she is a fun fighter and I’m very glad we were able to get this accomplished.”

There was much criticism of the fight from spectators. The five-round contest didn’t offer much in the way of action or memorable moments, but Dumont didn’t have any negative words to say about her opponent. She thinks the result was more of her shutting down her opponent than Ladd not doing anything.

“Aspen did exactly what she does in her other fights,” Dumont said, “except this time she actually faced a fighter that can hit her, can stop her from doing it. … She’s not a fool. She knew if she came towards me I was going to knock her out.”

Given the thin nature of the women’s featherweight division, many fans and pundits viewed Dumont vs. Ladd as the de facto No. 1 contender fight in the division. With dual-champ Amanda Nunes currently booked to defend her women’s bantamweight belt against Julianna Pena at UFC 269 on Dec. 11, there are questions about who she will face when she moves back to 145 pounds.

Dumont wouldn’t explicitly say she should be next to challenge for the gold, but made it clear she’s open to all options.

“It’s a division where we don’t know who we’re fighting,” Dumont said. “I’m going to leave it to the hands of UFC. I’ve never backed down from a fight. I’m going to continue to prepare at the gym and I hope it is a big name and I hope it is a main event, as well, because I thought this was pretty cool.

One of those options, Dumont said, could be an interim title fight with Holm (14-5 MMA, 7-5 UFC) should Nunes opt not to come back in a reasonable time frame.

“I don’t want the division to get stagnant. I want us to have fights, so I’m totally willing to have that fight. I understand Amanda is going to do a title defense and then later on a possible fight with Valentina (Shevchenko), so we’d only be able to meet mid-year next year. I definitely don’t want to be not fighting that long. I think a fight, even for interim belt with Holly, could bring some attention to the division and have other athletes come into the division with the winner of this fight to go on and face Amanda.”