The Prelim Breakout Star is a once-per-event article that helps fans get to know those who will be entertaining them from the undercard. The intention of the article is not to bring attention to the most talented fighter on the preliminary card, but rather one that the common fan may have overlooked or underestimated.
Sticking with the trend of underrated women in MMA, today we turn our focus to another fighter who would benefit from the addition of an atomweight division. However, she’s made a nice little home in strawweight in the meantime.
Loma lookboonme
Affiliation – Tiger Muay Thai
From – Buriram, Thailand
Height – 5’1″
Weight – 115 lbs (Strawweight)
Record – 5-2 (2-1 UFC)
What makes her impressive
While her record may seem short for somebody about to enter her third UFC fight, Loma is not short on experience. She’s been taking Thai fights since she was basically in diapers. As a result, she’s extremely well-refined when it comes to the clinch game. Some people are a big fan of the work she does with the elbows or knees, but my personal favorite part of her Thai style are her foot sweeps. She doesn’t always follow her opponent to the ground, but the way she sends them there is really impressive and sets up a lot of her striking for later.
Why she has been overlooked
As I mentioned at the top, she is really an atomweight fighter who is fighting at strawweight out of necessity. As a result, her fight with Angela Hill saw her pretty out-matched in the size and strength departments. This may continue to be a problem if she wants to make a run in the division, but it is worth noting that it didn’t seem like much of a problem against Jinh Yu Frey (although she too has fought at 115 lbs).
What makes this a good match-up
Sam Hughes is a very tough fighter coming out of LFA. She loves to mix it up on the feet or on the ground, with the majority of her success coming from the latter. The problem is that, firstly, the fight starts on the feet. I feel she’ll be at a pretty significant disadvantage with the speed there. If she does want to try to take Lookboonme down, she’ll have to face that killer clinch. Ultimately, there is just too much for Hughes to worry about here to make me think she’ll come away with a win.
Prelim Breakout Star Record: 216-101-1 (2 NC) (13 DNF)
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