UFC: Thai star Loma Lookboonmee steps up and delivers on Fight Island vs Jinh Yu Frey

Loma Lookboonmee’s talent has never been in doubt. The big questions shadowing the Thai star since she joined the UFC’s strawweight division have more concerned how she might handle the rise in weight and in class. Sunday showed the world of MMA just how far the 24-year-old (5-2) has come – and so quickly – as she worked American veteran Jinh Yu Frey (9-5) over for a unanimous points decision on the UFC Fight Night: Holm vs Aldana card in Abu Dhabi. “I’m just a small girl from Thailand,” Loma said in the cage afterwards, as she took her record in the world’s premier MMA promotion to 2-1 since signing on last year. “I expected Jinh to be a very good fighter and I prepared for her to bring her best. I expected her to wrestle. Now I just want to keep fighting and keep improving.” Frey had Loma backed up to the cage early – shades of the game plan the veteran American Angela Hill (12-9) used with great success in beating the Thai fighter back in February. But this time around Loma was quick to turn things in her favour and she soon took control of the clinch, landing elbows and knees to Frey that showcased her Muay Thai pedigree. Dominating performance by 's @LomaLookboonmee!#UFCFightIsland4 live on E+ pic.twitter.com/BzLiahMjo2 — UFC (@ufc) October 4, 2020 Frey was cut under her right eye in that first round, and Loma went to work in the second and she took control, loading up on elbows and knees when the action was close, and using her fight craft to keep Frey at safe distance when they circled each other in the middle of the cage. The biggest test came at the start of the third. Frey’s corner had been urging the 35-year-old to “put her on her back” – with the perceived weakness in Loma’s game being her wrestling. Frey managed a takedown, and took side control, but Loma scrambled and stood up and then normal transmission resumed as she picked Frey apart. By the final bell UFC Stats had the Thai fighter landing close to 60 per cent of the significant strikes thrown – and 80 of them found their mark compared to just 26 coming the other way. View this post on Instagram Thank you to my team, my coaches, all my training partners and my supporters. Today i won my fight, and i am very happy i got to display a good performance of my Muay Thai on the big stage. I am ready to get back to training and fight again soon. ️️️ #thaimma A post shared by Loma Lookboonmee (@lomalookboonmee) on Oct 3, 2020 at 7:54pm PDT Loma had also showcased the work she’d been putting in at the Tiger Muay Thai gym in Thailand, where the likes of UFC bantamweight champ Petr Yan (15-1) fine-tune their craft. The judges had it 30-27, 30-27, 29-29 to Loma. Age is on the Thai star’s side, and Sunday she again showed how the fight game is simply second nature after a storied Muay Thai career that took in 15 years and multiple titles. In throwing Loma in against Frey – who has the Invicta atomweight title and bouts against Asian stars Ayaka Hamasak (20-3) and Ham Seo-Hee (23-8) on her résumé – the UFC continue to see just what they might have at their disposal, given the Thai fighter readily admits her MMA game is still very much a work in progress. Loma looked to have strengthened her body – and sharpened her mind to the wiles of MMA – and she left the cage calling for another test, as soon as possible. “The UFC is absolutely amazing. I am so grateful to compete and make money for my family in a global pandemic and I can’t thank the UFC enough for the opportunity they have given me,” said Loma. “I feel like with Angela Hill – fighting such an experienced and well-known opponent – I felt the pressure and maybe I wasn’t ready mentally for that yet, but I came into this fight very mentally strong and I’m happy with the win.” China’s bantamweight prospect Heili “The Mongolian Knight” Alateng (14-8-1) had earlier been taken to school by American Casey Kenney (15-2-1), who landed 109 significant strikes – how many of them to the head of his opponent. “He’s tough as nails,” said Kenney afterwards as he wondered out loud how Heili managed to stay on his feet for the duration. The judges had it 30-25, 30-26, 30-27 to the American – and the Chinese fighter’s whole right side had been battered red raw by the assault.