Preview: UFC Vegas 105 Prelims

Women’s Strawweights

Loma Lookboonmee (9-3, 6-2 UFC) vs. Istela Nunes (6-5, 0-4 UFC)

ODDS: Lookboonmee (-590), Nunes (+390)

Lookboonmee continues to chug along at 115 pounds. The UFC’s first Thai fighter, Lookboonmee figured to be an interesting experiment as to how a top-level muay thai practitioner would transition to the UFC, and there was an expectedly rocky start as she looked to round things out and overcome a clear size disadvantage relative to most of her peers. Losses to Angela Hill and Lupita Godinez have aged quite well in the years since, and Lookboonmee has done well to establish herself as a more physical wrestler and grappler, even scoring a submission win over Elise Reed in 2023. Lookboonmee’s career really should have more momentum at this point, but for whatever reason, she has only fought once per calendar year since 2022, with her matchmaking staying relatively stagnant as a result. That trend continues here, as a fight against Ariane Carnelossi turns into Nunes looking for her first UFC win in her fifth trip to the Octagon. Nunes is better than that record would suggest and she’s a dangerous knockout artist, but she has some clear flaws that have cost her against a decent level of competition. She starts off hot, but as time goes on, she tends to need time and space to operate, causing her trouble as the UFC has continued to match her with hard-charging opponents. Lookboonmee is more patient than that baseline, so this could wind up as Nunes’ most forgiving fight yet. With that said, Lookboonmee should be able to slowly take this fight over, particularly if she can get inside and make things physical. The pick is Lookboonmee via decision.

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Osbourne vs. Gurule
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Lookboonmee vs. Nunes
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