UFC 284: Lookboonme vs Reed

The pound for pound title and lightweight gold is on the line this weekend in Perth when Australia native Alexander Volkanovski attempts to live up to his nickname “The Great” by challenging one of the sport’s most dominant fighters in lightweight champion and Team Khabib pupil Islam Makhachev. Ahead of this pfp #1 vs pfp #2 matchup, the interim featherweight title will be on the line as two contenders Yair Rodriguez and Josh Emmett battle to prove their right to championship opportunity.

Hidden behind the promotion for the main card is an intriguing prelim bout between two women looking to break their way into the strawweight rankings, Loma Lookboonme (7-3-0) and Elise Reed (6-2-0).

Loma Lookboonme has seemingly found her groove in the strawweight division after fighting the majority of her pre-UFC mixed martial arts career in the atomweight division, a division that is non-existent in the promotion. Lookboonme trains out of Bangtao Muay Thai in Thailand, a highly respected gym where many UFC fighters including pound for pound champion Alexander Volkanovski have gone to improve their game. Lookboonme is continuously evolving and we have yet to see her in her “final form” considering she made her UFC debut in 2019 just under two years after making her pro debut in 2018. Coming into her 7th fight with the promotion, she has done well for herself thus far, only losing to an OG in Angela Hill early on in her UFC career and future title contender Loopy Godinez in 2021. When watching Lookboonme fight it is clear that she spent many years fighting and training Muay Thai, her in and out movement and understanding of range is impressive. She is a technical fighter and due to her size disadvantage in the strawweight division, she imposes more of a threat in terms of volume than power. Knowing that she doesn’t have the heaviest hands in the division, she imposes danger with various kick attacks to the entire body of her opponents, elbows from all angles, knees in the clinch and judo-like head and arm throws. I enjoy watching Lookboonme fight because she approaches each fight technically but still gives us, the audience, an entertaining fight to look forward to. I am consistently impressed by her ability to set the pace and tone of the fights she is in. Her cardio has yet to fail her and she is quite the busy fighter, landing an average of 4.2 strikes per minute according to her UFC stats. Although Lookboonme’s only losses have come via decision to opponents that are more evolved in grappling than Lookboonme, she carries a 74% takedown defense into this fight, proving that it is not an easy task to get her to the canvas. Loma seems to improve her fight IQ each time she steps in the cage and in her last fight was able to beat her opponent Denise Gomes (6-2-0) by securing 4 takedowns of her own and showing that she is capable of dominating on the feet and the grappling if need be. Loma is one of those fighters that I believe will continue to evolve and find her way to the top 10 in the future.

Elise Reed, the betting underdog in her upcoming fight against Loma Lookboonmee, came into the UFC in 2021 with a lot of hype to live up to, carrying an undefeated record of 4-0 and notable wins over Jasmine Jasudavicius (7-2-0) and current Invicta strawweight champion Jillian DeCoursey (6-3-0) into her debut. Reed is a well rounded mixed martial artist with a base in grappling and Taekwondo. According to her UFC stats, Reed is perfect in takedown attempts with an impressive 100% takedown accuracy. Although grappling and clinch work seems to be her bread and butter, fellow former atomweight Reed has a 2” reach advantage over Lookboonme and considering her last few performances for the promotion, I suspect that she will attempt to utilize that in her upcoming match up. Melissa “Super Mely” Martinez came into the UFC with an unbeaten record of 7-0 before she was spoiled by Elise in Reed’s most recent outing. Reed does not wait to read her opponents, she walks forward as soon as the bell goes off, throwing kicks and hectic combinations to showcase her background in Taekwondo and set the tone of the fight right away. Although her fight with Super Mely went all three rounds, Reed was able to secure a knockdown in the first round as well as 3 takedowns throughout the fight. Reed fights out of Kickside Martial Arts in Princeton, New Jersey. It is a small gym with their biggest star being Reed herself, but I am fond of the fighters that have a bond with their team and stay with them on their journey to the big stage. Reed tends to hunt her opponents in the cage and overwhelm them with clinch engagement and a variety of strikes. When we see Reed fight, it is clear that she has grit and zero fear. Though her journey thus far in the UFC has seen ups and downs, she seemed to be more focused than ever in her last fight and I suspect that like her opponent, we will continue to see her evolve.

Despite the lack of promotion for the undercard of UFC 284, I expect this fight to be a “fight of the night” contender. These two are matched up well and share the incentive to fight their way into the top 15 of the strawweight division. Although Reed’s unpredictable, Michael Chandler’esque style has secured her 2 knockout wins in her career, to find a target in Lookboonme will be a challenge, especially considering the height difference here. I expect Reed to come out strong in the first round and hit Lookboonme with a couple of good shots until Lookboonme finds her range. Reed tends to set a pace that she can’t always keep up with. In her fight with Melissa Martinez, although she dominated for most of the fight, I noticed that her defense got weaker as the fight went on. I believe this will be an issue with an experienced striker like Lookboonme. Because of how well these two are matched up stylistically, I think that this fight will come down to who can sustain the pace through all 3 rounds and from what we’ve seen in both of their previous fights, Lookboonme has the better cardio and discipline. I feel that Lookboonme has found her groove and Reed is still on the path to doing so. I expect the first round to be back and forth between the two with Reed initiating the clinch and Lookboonme reversing the position and throwing knees and elbows to prevent Reed from advancing position. In the second round, I think Lookboonme will start to earn the respect of Reed with her striking. As Reed begins to tire in the second and third rounds, I expect Lookboonme to take over not only in the striking but if Reed initiates the clinch in the later rounds, I would not be surprised to see Lookboonme get Reed to the ground with that Judo throw that we’ve seen her use many times before. From there, I can see her dominating Reed with ground and pound. If the fight does not end up on the canvas, I think we will see Lookboonme dominate on the feet as Reed’s defense begins to fade. Regardless of who wins this fight, I can assure you that it will be a fun one as both of these ladies continue to bring us entertaining fights each time they have a showing in the octagon. Considering Lookboonme is more of a patient, volume striker and only has one TKO win on her record, my official prediction is Loma Lookboonme via unanimous decision.

Prediction:
Loma Lookboonmee via Unanimous Decision
(Please note: This prediction is not associated with the MMAPlay365 packages, subscriptions or services)