Weight Class: Strawweight
Record: 7-1
Age: 27
Height: 5’2”
Born In: India
Training Out Of: Bidang MMA & Fitness Gym
Combined Opponent Records (at the time they fought): 14-6
Key Wins: Anna Safeeva
Sonam Zomba will attempt to defend her MFN strawweight belt for the first time this weekend when she meets Maristela Alves in the headlining bout for Matrix Fight Night 18.
Zomba began her professional MMA career in 2018 and was stopped with strikes just over a minute into her debut against Kiran Singh. After a layoff of just over four years, she returned to action in 2022 and scored back-to-back finishes to kick off what has turned into a seven-fight win streak.
The 27-year-old secured another win via strikes in between a pair of unanimous decisions before stopping Shiyin Tan with ground and pound in February of last year. That victory set her up for a fight for the vacant Matrix Fight Night strawweight title against the undefeated Anna Safeeva at Matrix Fight Night 17, where Zombat largely out grappled Safeeva to take a clear win on the judges’ scorecards before she also squeezed in a kickboxing win with Bidang Fighting Championship before the end of the year.
Zombat relies heavily on her kicks while striking and is fast and dexterous with both of her legs. She’ll frequently chop away at the lead leg of her opponents while also mixing in round kicks to the body, and she’s comfortable throwing up head kicks with either leg from her orthodox stance.
She mainly utilizes her punches as counters or to tee off on an opponent that appears to be hurt or fading. The 27-year-old does do a good job of working in combination when she does throw punches, and I’d like to see her mix those in a bit more to disguise what are usually naked high kick attempts.
Zombat also has good timing on her single and double leg takedowns in space and will quickly force an opponent to the fence if she doesn’t immediately bring them to the mat. She has a grinding clinch game along the cage and will stay active with knees and short punches while looking for chances to either throw her opponent or bring them down with outside trips.
The most impressive aspect of Zombat’s game is her work from top position on the ground. She likes to immediately settle into half guard or side control in order to start landing short elbows and hammerfists, and she’ll also look for chances to go knee on belly or set up a mounted crucifix while frequently landing knees to the body of her downed opponent.
Given that her grappling is the strongest aspect of her game, it’s interesting to see that Zombat opted to make her kickboxing debut after winning the Matrix Fight Night strawweight belt. Her speed on the feet and kicking game do make her a threat in the standup if opponents are too worried about her takedown attempts, and she does a good job of convincing her opposition that they’re having a straight-up striking battle before trying to take things to the ground.
I do have some concerns about how Zombat may fair against larger strawweights that might provide a more significant test for her takedown game, but her last win against Safeeva was a strong performance that showcased her ability to maintain her preferred game plan across five rounds.
As a strawweight prospect coming out of a region that’s still on the come-up as far as consistently producing high-level fighters, she’s definitely someone worth keeping an eye on and could be a strong candidate for Road to UFC at some point.
