Valerie Loureda wants to make her people proud.
The 22-year-old flyweight prospect hopes to represent her hometown of Miami and its Cuban community in her new career as a professional mixed martial artist. Loureda (2-0 MMA, 2-0 BMMA) began fighting in 2019 and she’s notched two impressive victories for Bellator.
But Loureda is not alone representing the city of Miami. Her friend and teammate, Jorge Masvidal, rose to stardom in the past year while fighting in the UFC’s welterweight division, making him one of the biggest stars in combat sports and now one of the biggest athletes to come out Miami.
Loureda, who like Masvidal has Cuban heritage, takes inspiration from “Gamebred” and hopes to follow his footsteps in Bellator.
“I’m very confident I can be the next face to come out of Miami, the next female fighter,” Loureda said in Spanish on the latest episode of Hablemos MMA. “I don’t know any female fighter that is Cuban, and I’m very confident I could be the next one.
“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.”
Loureda takes on Tara Graff in an 125-pound contest Friday on the preliminary card of Bellator 243 in Uncasville, Conn.
Loureda is happy to be returning to the Bellator cage since it’s been a little more than a year since her most recent fight. “Master” Loureda was kept out of action due to injury, an appearance on the Spanish reality TV show “Exatlon,” and then the ongoing global pandemic that forced Bellator to halt operations for a few months.
Loureda acknowledged these aren’t the best conditions for a return, but she plans on relying on her lifelong training ahead of Bellator 243.
“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,” Loureda sid. “These last few weeks, I’ve been doing the best I can to be ready to win and come out on top.
“I might not be sparring as much, but I’m doing physical training (and) conditioning. I lost a lot of weight after ‘Exatlon,’ and in these times, I’ve used time to concentrate on what I want to do with my life. While many are eating and gaining weight at home, I’ve been working to be on weight and be ready for this fight. So I haven’t had many partners for this training camp, but I’m very confident in my level and the years of training in martial arts.”
Loureda has a strong following online, especially on her Instagram account. She thinks due to her popularity, many opponents underestimate her fighting skills. The unbeaten prospect has no problem with being taken lightly.
“My opponent is very aggressive, and like most of the opponents that I have, she’s going to try to take me down,” Loureda said. “But if they knew that I’m very prepared for that (they might not). I train with the best female fighters on the planet here at American Top Team. I did the camp with Joanna (Jedrzejczyk) in January (and) February. I’m ready.
“She sees me on Instagram and she thinks I only post pictures, but she doesn’t know I train twice, three times a day, and like an animal. That’s my secret weapon. She thinks I’m weak – I’m just an Instagram model. But when I step in the cage, I transform.”
Inspired by Jorge Masvidal's success, Valerie Loureda hopes to represent Miami and Cuban community
