By:  | September 18, 2022 2:02 pm

Loma Lookboonmee got back to winning ways at UFC Vegas 60 this morning. Afterwards the Thai strawweight gave a series of emotional interviews in which she opened up her struggle with depression.

After the decision victory over Denise Gomes she admitted that she had contemplated walking away from the fight game. At UFC Vegas 43 she was outpointed by Lupita Godinez and Loma says that result had her considering her future as a fighter,

“After that loss it was a very difficult period for me because I had been suffering from depression. After that loss I said that was I was done, the reason I am here today is because of my team and my family who always believed in me.”

 

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Inspirational message

She also had an inspirational message for other people struggling with mental health issues,

“I’d like to tell people who are suffering from depression and mental illness that I am one of you too and I know how it feels and I know how bad it is. I have had suicidal thoughts, I have hurt myself and I know how dark and deep it goes.”

She thanked her family, her management and the team at Bang Tao Muay Thai for helping her to work her way through these issues,

“I am lucky to have such an amazing team behind me and a family who love me. I am very grateful to have them, I want to tell people who are suffering from mental illness to see value in yourself and things might not get better straightaway but they will eventually.”

Fighting demons

Loma admitted afterwards that her demons even followed her into the cage and she was riddled with doubt even during the decision win in Las Vegas,

“Even during the fight I was struggling its like I had part of me telling me this is it its going to end here and another part of me telling me no way I’m not giving up and I was battling through that each round.”

For Loma this made the victory even sweeter,

“Today was a really big victory for me because when I got in the cage I wasn’t just fighting my opponent but I was fighting a darkness that I’ve held inside of me for a long time. I want to thank my amazing team and everyone who has supported me and got me through a tough year.”

Feeling better

But while Loma acknowledged how badly the loss to Godinez last year affected her she has been battling mental health issues since before coming to prominence as a UFC fighter,

“This win was definitely something special for me, it felt like a fresh start, a new beginning. The issues I’ve been dealing with I have been dealing with for five years and I’m finally learning to love myself and feeling better about everything and it was a special victory for me.”