Introduction
Saturday, April 16th, Brazilian bantamweight prospect Mariza Loch will be in action for Ares FC, where she will be looking continue his winning ways against Karolina Sobek. He will be looking for another win, as Loch looks to continue her undefeated record and get attention from the UFC. She represents Chute Boxe, a respected camp in MMA. Let’s take a closer look at this prospect as this week’s “Prospect Spotlight.”
Strengths
Striking: Like many from the legendary Chute Boxe camp, Loch is known for her striking, specifically her Muay Thai. Loch has pro kickboxing experience on her resume. In the cage, she has the classic Muay Thai style. She is light on her feet and moves well. She mixes up her kicks and punches well and has solid power for a female her size. She’s a tad short for the bantamweight division, in my estimation, but she makes up for it in strength and power. Three of her six wins come by way of knockout, including two by knee strikes.
Clinch: Also, like many Muay Thai stylists, she is nasty in the clinch. Her physical strength helps her control her opponents and gain the upper hand so she can land nasty elbows and knees. She also uses clinch as a form of takedown defense because she is strong and able to control people with technique and position. This is especially the case against the cage.
Needs Improvement
Strength of Schedule: The thing about Loch (and a lot of Brazilian regional fighters, to be fair) is that her career thus far has lacked an impressive strength of schedule thus far, which does make it a little bit more difficult to predict her trajectory in this sport or how good she is right now. Her best win comes over Dayane Souza by split decision (Souza was 3-0-1 at the time but is nevertheless solid). Her opponent’s combined record is 12-23-1, which is far below .500 with just one opponent having an over .500 record (Souza). She will get a step up in competition for her next fight, which will help us further assess Loch.
Outlook
UFC Prelim Fighter: Loch looks like another solid Brazilian female fighter that could be a major promotional roster member in the next year or two. Her style is exciting and she has certainly been impressive thus far. Her current test is against Karolina Sobek, a 145er that will have the size advantage on her. A win over Sobek, and maybe 1-2 other opponents, could have her knocking on the UFC’s door.
MMA Intel 