“It’s been exciting being surrounded by these great athletes and I want to get as much knowledge from them as possible,” says Loma, speaking on the phone from Auckland.

“I learned a lot but the biggest thing I have learned is I have to gain more weight. I need to gain weight and I need to get stronger.”

A natural fighter at atomweight, the 23-year-old was always going to face size issues when stepping up into the strawweight division. But, for the moment at least, the 48kg-52kg range is a low as the UFC will go for the ladies.

Loma (4-1) knew that coming in and since her debut win – a split decision over Russian Aleksandra Albu at UFC Fight Night 162 in Singapore this past October – she’s been mostly tucked away at Tiger Muay Thai, and mostly tucking away as much food as she can at the same time.

But there's also been plenty of grunt work.

“I’ve never lifted weights before so the transformation has been amazing,” Loma says. “I was 47 kgs walking weight when I started, now I am 57 kgs walking weight. I’ve gained a lot of confidence and people are telling me I look like a man now. They’re asking me why!”

Given that Loma’s reputation comes built on her natural power, there’s a fascination surrounding just what extra muscle mass and ballast will add to her fight game.

Against Albu, UFC fans got to see for the first time her storied stand-up prowess, and what a demon Loma is in the clinch. The Russian’s shattered nose was also proof positive of that.

Come Sunday’s undercard at UFC Fight Night: Felder vs Hooker in Auckland and Loma will be facing another fighter who does her best work in the vertical position. American Angela “Overkill” Hill (11-7) should also provide a massive test for the Thai, given the 35-year-old’s history.

Hill entered MMA with an impressive kick-boxing pedigree and has gone toe-to-toe with former champions in American Rose Namajunas and Brazil’s Jessica Andrade.

Hill has taken to bout on three week’s notice, coming off a second-round TKO of fellow American Hannah Cifers at UFC Fight Night 166 in January. The one-time Invicta FC strawweight champ will also be making – incredibly – her sixth appearance in the past 10 months (a UFC record) so she’s obviously loving life inside the cage.

“I went to watch her fight in Chicago once,” Loma says. “I like the way she fights. I was surprised by how strong she was. I won’t say too much about the fight plan but I am more excited about this fight than I was for my first fight. I think our styles match.”

Loma has been able to surround herself with MMA talent at Tiger Muay Thai, the preferred fight camp and/or training destination of everyone from Shevchenko to Hong Kong model Mia Kang (who's 1-0 in Muay Thai herself).

Since arriving in Auckland, Loma has used the Tiger camp’s connections to get training time among the big guns at City Kickboxing, home to Adesanya and to Sunday’s headliner in seventh-ranked lightweight Dan “The Hangman” Hooker (19-8) – up against sixth-ranked American Paul Felder (17-4) in that main event.

Tiger Muay Thai mentor George Hickman believes a significant part of Loma’s development is going on outside the cage and inside the young fighter’s head.

“I keep telling her she should be confident all the time because you’re a champion multiple times at Muay Thai,” Hickman says. “Even though she’s new in MMA she’s a champion so she should always be confident. Israel came up to her at City Kickboxing, the fighters all know what she has done. Everybody loves Loma and everybody knows who she is.”

Loma said on leaving the cage in Singapore that she saw that first win as simply a step in the right direction, rather than any significant achievement in herself.

It’s a long way from the dusty fields of rural Thailand where Loma grew up learning the “art of eight limbs” at the feet of her father (and former fighter) Boonmee, but Loma says she is soaking up every moment, and every new experience.