Bellator MMA will air their second live event upon resumption this Friday from the Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut. The card will be headlined by lightweight fighters Benson Henderson and Michael Chandler. However, UFC BMF Champion Jorge Masvidal will have his attention on the opening preliminary card on the night, a women’s flyweight bout featuring Valerie Loureda and Tara Graff.
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In an episode of Hablemos MMA via MMA Junkie’s Danny Segura, the young fighter says, “I’m very confident I can be the next face to come out of Miami, the next female fighter. I don’t know any female fighter that is Cuban, and I’m very confident I could be the next one.”
Valerie Loureda credits Jorge Masvidal for guiding her
The latter is just 22 years old and began competing as a professional in 2019. She is a member of the American Top Team and credits the UFC BMF Champion for being her mentor.
Loureda is undefeated as a professional and knows that sterner tests will arrive as she moves ahead in her career. However, she remains confident about winning her match and says that she will win her fight for the Cuban community in Miami.
“I know that I can get the same support the community has given Jorge. I have the same coaches as Jorge, the same training, and I’m following his steps in the sport. He’s guiding me a lot. I’m very confident in my camp, in my team, my city behind me. And I’m going to win this fight for the Cubans here in Miami.”
The young flyweight has said that the absence of plenty of sparring partners will not hamper her bid to go 3-0 as a professional. Loureda credits muscle memory for this.
This is an oft used tactic by fighters who react to a particular situation with simple instincts.
Short notice fight will not cause Loureda problems ahead of Bellator 243
She said, “I didn’t know about this fight until three weeks ago and I didn’t have many training partners to do sparring and my jiu-jitsu. But I’m confident because I’ve been doing this since I was a child, so I have that muscle memory. These last few weeks, I’ve been doing the best I can to be ready to win and come out on top.”
Despite not having many sparring partners, Loureda has maintained her top-notch quality. She claims to have sparred with former UFC women’s strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk in preparation for her January bout. Unfortunately, the aforementioned contest got scrapped following the youngster’s injury.
However, Jedrzejczyk was preparing for her fight against Zhang Weili at the time and would have given the youngster a thorough test.
This will certainly hold Loureda in good stead ahead of her return to Bellator and for the future. Can the 22-year-old achieve her dream and become the renowned Cuban female fighter?
