A strawweight pairing between division prospects, Cheyanne ‘The Warrior Princess’ Buys and Loma Lookboonme is currently in the works to land at a UFC Fight Night event on November 20. with a location or venue for the event yet to be determined by the organization.
Florida native, Buys last featured at UFC Vegas 33 at the end of July, where she stopped Gloria de Paula with a massive high-kick knockout victory — earning her first win under the promotion’s banner.
25-year-old striker, Lookboonme is currently in the midst of a two-fight undefeated run — last featuring at UFC Vegas 25 at the beginning of May where she nabbed a unanimous decision win over Sam Hughes. News of the targeted strawweight pairing of Buys and Lookboonme was first reported by John Hyon Ko.
“Strawweight clash between Cheyanne Buys and Loma Lookboonme in the works for November 20th #UFC show, per sources. Venue and city still undetermined.“
Following her victory over the aforenoted Brazilian, de Paula, Buys hit the headlines after footage emerged of her collapsing and crying backstage after she had been informed that she had received a Performance of the Night bonus for her knockout victory at UFC Vegas 33.
During her post-fight press conference with assembled media, an upset Buys explained how she had left her house in Texas along with her husband in a bid to travel to Las Vegas and compete against de Paula, and how her bank account was in the negative.
“I just found out two seconds ago I got Performance of the Night (bonus), so yeah, it’s pretty surreal,” Buys said to assembled media. “Seven weeks ago I decided to make a big risk and just ditch my house and everything in it in Dallas, Texas, and I came here with my animals and my husband and we have one vehicle. We packed up our car with one suitcase. We came here, we didn’t have a house, we had nothing. I had to get a loan just to get a house and I knew coming in here tonight that my whole paycheck was just gonna go back to that loan.“
“I took a big risk to get a big reward and I can’t thank my team (enough), my husband, my family because they were the ones that said, ‘Listen, you’re gonna have to go broke for a little bit just to get something good out of this.’ I knew I had to do it and just feel so happy.“
The Dana White’s Contender Series alum earned her UFC contract with a unanimous decision win over Hilarie Rose, before suffering a promotional bow unanimous judging loss against Montserrat Ruiz.
Tiger Muay Thai trainee and George Hickman product, Lookboonme has featured four times under the UFC’s banner — establishing a 3-1 promotional record.
The Invicta FC alum carries a well-established Muay Thai background into the Octagon with her, lodging other successes against both Alexandra Albu and former Invicta FC atomweight best, Jinh Yu Frey. Her sole Octagon loss came against veteran former Invicta FC strawweight gold holder, Angela Hill.
Of note, a flyweight pairing between perennial contender, Joanne Calderwood, and division-move, striking specialist, Alexa Grasso is also booked to take place at the November 20. Fight Night event.