By:  | February 12, 2023 12:32 pm

Loma Lookboonmee made a piece of personal history at UFC 284 this morning in Perth. The Muay Thai veteran scored the first submission win of her entire career.

She was up against Elise Reed at the RAC Arena and looking to make it back to back wins inside the octagon. With Loma coming from such a strong Muay Thai background it was no surprise to see her scoring with low kicks in the early exchanges.

She landed a solid right hand with the damage to Reed’s left leg already starting to accumulate. The American responded by pushing her opponent up against the cage but Loma is extremely comfortable in the clinch and fired off some knees to the midsection.

The Thai was able to fling her opponent to the floor but found herself underneath with Reef finishing the round stronger. The American was in top position and firing off punches, although blood was starting to pour from her nose.

But while the first round was close the second stanza would be completely one sided with Loma showing a new side to her game.

Perfect start

The Thai ducked under a right hand from Reed at the start of the round and then grabbed her opponent’s back. She wrestled her to the floor and quickly sunk her hooks in to finish the fight with a rear naked choke.

The finish came at the 0:44 mark and sees Loma improve to 8-3 after winning by submission for the first time in her MMA career. Her opponent drops to 6-3.

Earlier this year Loma spoke about her ongoing battle with depression. Things are certainly looking up for the Thai fighter who got 2023 off to the perfect start, winning by stoppage for the first time in her UFC career.

 

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Purple belt

Loma certainly sounded happy declaring in no uncertain terms that,

I’m so f**king happy.

She also wants to be promoted and called on Bang Tao Muay Thai’s BJJ coach Alex Schild to award her a purple belt writing in a mix of English and Anglicized Thai,

 P’Alex na, it’s time for my purple belt

Back to back wins should be enough to secure Loma a spot in the top 15 at strawweight even if her opponent was unranked. It is a matter of when, not if, the 27 year old earns that purple belt but she moved a small step closer to an actual UFC title by scoring the first submission win of her career in Perth this morning.