Loma Lookboonmee is coming off the first submission win of her career. The improvement she has made in her ground game was recognized by her coaches this week with the 27 year old awarded her purple belt in BJJ.
At UFC 284 she finished Elise Reed with a rear naked choke. Loma has always been known for her Muay Thai so it was a surprise to see her pulling off a submission win.
Her coaches at Bang Tao Muay Thai clearly weren’t surprised though. They see the improvements Loma has made in her ground game and yesterday awarded her a purple belt:
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Long journey
Loma received her blue belt in August, 2019. At the time she had yet to make her UFC debut and had already suffered a submission loss on a Full Metal Dojo card.
That was back when Loma was training at Tiger Muay Thai in Phuket. Four year’s later and she has switched camp while establishing herself as the sole Thai representative on the UFC roster.
Loma is a veteran of seven UFC fights and has won five of them. Having gone the distance in her first six fights inside the octagon she would have been delighted to secure that submission win in Perth.
THAILAND STAND UP!!! 🇹🇭🇹🇭🇹🇭
How about @LomaLookboonmee locking in the first finish of #UFC284! pic.twitter.com/gwWhQ2jXUt
— UFC_Asia (@UFC_Asia) February 12, 2023
Striking skills
There is no doubting Loma’s striking skills. She won several titles competing as both a professional and an amateur before making the transition to MMA.
But the Thai has evolved into a truly well rounded fighter. She is coming off back to back wins but hasn’t quite cracked the top 15 in the UFC’s highly competitive strawweight division.
That is clearly the next challenge for Loma and one more win should be enough to earn her a spot in the rankings. Opponents know all about her Muay Thai and she is very dangerous with knees and kicks.
But they will have to start watching out for Loma’s grappling skills because she has proven she can finish fights on the ground. The newly minted BJJ purple belt has already secured the first submission win of her career and it probably won’t be the last!
