Athletes
Loma Lookboonmee Wants To Make It Five In A Row
Thailand’s Sole UFC Athlete Is On A Tear, And Plans To Show Her Continued Evolution As A Fighter At UFC Perth
Loma Lookboonmee is in the best form of her UFC career, and heads into her next assignment bursting with positivity and ready to continue her ascent up the strawweight division.
Sitting down with the UFC.com team for the obligatory fight week conversation, Lookboonmee looked relaxed and happy. And, considering her current form, that came as no surprise.
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“Every fight week is exciting for me. I'm so happy to be back,” she said.
“It doesn't matter where. I'm just happy to be here, and the closer we get to the fight, the more excited I am.”
Lookboonmee heads into UFC Fight Night: Ulberg vs Reyes this weekend in excellent form. Victories over Denise Gomes, Elise Reed, Bruna Brasil, and Istela Nunes have seen her rise up the division, and she now proudly sits with a number next to her name for the first time in her UFC career, at 14th in the UFC’s official strawweight rankings.
It’s a career milestone she’s happy to check off the list, but as she explained to us this week, she’s far from finished.
“It felt amazing when I finally made it into the top 15,” she said.
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“After I got into the UFC, my first goal was to make it into the top 15, and now I've achieved that. But I'm not going to stop there. I will make it into the top 10 and the top five, and I'll always keep going.”
Lookboonmee’s next test will see her take on dangerous Brazilian Alexia Thainara, who made a real splash on her UFC debut as she danced her way to the Octagon in London, then submitted UK MMA hero Molly McCann inside a round.
A glance at Thainara’s career record shows exactly where she likes to get her work done, with the Brazilian holding no knockout or TKO victories on her 12-1 record. Instead, she has eight submission finishes, including that first-round rear-naked-choke win over McCann in March.
Thainara’s win impressed many who were in attendance that night, but Lookboonmee isn’t fixating too much on that one performance, though she did admit that she’s looking forward to testing her skills against such an aggressively grapple-first opponent.
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“I don't think much about her last fight. That's not my priority,” she admitted.
“What I want to say is thank you to the UFC for this opportunity. I'm really excited to get to fight a jiu-jitsu-based fighter. I think this is a great opportunity for me to test my skills and to learn, and it's all about gaining experience.”
And while, on paper, the bout pits a fighter from a Muay Thai background against an athlete from a Brazilian jiu-jitsu background, Lookboonmee was quick to warn people that she’s much more than just a former Muay Thai athlete.
“I come from a background in Muay Thai, but when you transition to MMA, you have to be prepared for everything,” she explained.
“The fight could go standing, wrestling, on the ground, and that's why I don't focus on (the) outcome. I don't focus specifically on a game plan. I am ready for wherever the fight goes. I will be ready on my feet. I will be ready on the ground. As an MMA fighter, you have to be ready for everything, and my game plan is to win.”
That dedication to a well-rounded skill set has taken her to different gyms across the world, as Lookboonmee has sharpened her skills in respected international gyms, including Syndicate MMA in Las Vegas, Diaz Combat Sports in Vancouver, and Tiger Muay Thai in Thailand. Most recently, Lookboonmee has been working on the mats at Bangtao Muay Thai & MMA in Phuket, Thailand.
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“I feel like every fight camp I develop as a fighter, and everywhere I train, I learn,” she explained.
“Whether it's Canada, America, or Thailand, every place I get to train is a place where I can grow and learn, and every fight camp is the same – I get to learn and grow as a fighter.
"I’m so excited to be back in Thailand training, and this is my second time in Australia, and I couldn't be happier.”
That dedication to her craft meant we saw an improved version of Lookboonmee in each of her last four UFC outings. And she’s excited to showcase the latest iteration of her fighting arsenal this weekend.
“I definitely think that a win on Sunday will change people's opinions of me,” she said.
“I think that I'm ready for that, and I'm confident in that, and people will be looking at me from a different light, with a win on Sunday. Especially, a win for Thailand over Brazil is great.”
That pride in representing her native Thailand is evident. While most combat athletes from her nation tend to compete in the national sport of Muay Thai, and potentially diversify into boxing or kickboxing from there, Lookboonmee has taken a road less traveled, by moving into mixed martial arts. And, as the UFC’s first and only Thai athlete, she’s proud to fly the flag for Thailand on MMA’s biggest stage.
I want to say first that every time – just as (it was) the first time in the UFC – that I walk out to the Octagon representing my country and holding my flag, it means the world to me,” Lookboonmee smiled.
"And now that I'm here 10 fights later, still the only Thai in the UFC, it's an incredible feeling. The support I'm receiving from Thailand is just getting bigger and bigger. We had a press conference before I left, and it was amazing. And just feeling the support from everybody, it's absolutely incredible.”
Lookboonmee will carry that support into the Octagon with her when she faces Thainara in the opening bout of the night in Perth, Australia. And in a perhaps surprising admission ahead of fight night, the former Muay Thai fighter said she harbors hopes of getting her hand raised after claiming a submission victory over her Brazilian opponent.
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“In a perfect world, of course, I want the submission. That would be amazing,” she said.
“But we really don't know what's going to happen in there. Anything can happen. I've got to be ready for everything, and my focus is winning – not getting a specific type of win, but just being ready to fight, wherever the fight goes.
"Again, we don't know what's going to happen when you're in there, but I'm ready, and my goal is to win.”
It’s a statement filled with self-belief, as Lookboonmee heads into her latest matchup as good as she’s ever felt, and as dangerous as she’s ever been. And the biggest weapon in her arsenal is her confidence.
“When you ask me about confidence, it really comes down to me being confident in myself,” she explained.
“If I don't believe in myself, no one will. My team isn't going to believe in me. No one will believe in me. As for my four-fight winning streak, it feels amazing. It's what I've always wanted, and this weekend it’s going to be five in a row.”
UFC Fight Night: Ulberg vs Reyes took place live from RAC Arena in Perth, Australia on September 27, 2025. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!
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