Valerie Loureda opens up about car accident and viral celebration dance at Bellator 243

Valeria Loureda wanted to prove a point to all her critics this past Friday night. She was on a mission to prove she is not just an Instagram model.

We all saw the her KO her opponent and the celebratory dance that went viral, but what we didn’t see was the adversity she had to overcome to get her third professional MMA win.

There was lots of trash-talking between her and her opponent Tara Graff, other fighters, and fans leading up to the fight.

Valerie comments on the gratifying weight lifted off shoulders.

“I think it was so satisfying for me because there was so much negative talk before my fight,” Loureda told MMA Fighting while appearing on What the Heck. “I hadn’t fought in a long time so it looked like a social media thing, but I was training so hard.

“It was really frustrating for me just hearing what people would say, the Twitter beefs that I had about my TikToks and the way I am, it just made it that much more satisfying and I had to be that much more petty after my fight.”

After the fight, Valerie’s manager, Abe Kawa, revealed that she was involved in a scary car accident that took place the night before her fight.

“I was really, really nervous because I had faced a lot of adversity before that fight and I almost pulled out,” Loureda said. “I had a chip on my shoulder and, on top of that, I felt I had so much to prove. I also felt like if I could go through what I went through and come out winning, come out doing something spectacular, this would prove to me that I could go through anything in my life and still be successful in my career.

Valerie details the horrible moments leading up to the car wreck and admitted she was also dealing with personal issues that she isn’t ready to discuss yet.

“The day before I left I had just finished training at American Top Team,” Loureda explained. “I was close to the weight that I normally leave at, I took a shower after training, I blow dried my hair and I was on the way back from Coconut Creek. I was on the highway and there was a merge. I was in front of a guy and there was a huge, huge, huge, tow truck. He was driving super fast and he tried to pass me on the merge. I freaked out because I had no more space and I tried to break but he didn’t realize that my car was there.

“His whole back of his truck hit me and I went spinning in the side of the rail. I broke as hard as I could, and braced as hard as I could and I stopped right before the metal. I swear to god, if I didn’t do that, I would’ve flipped or something. I got hit on the whole side of the car—super strong impact.”

Luckily she was able to fight, won, and broke out the celebratory dance that went viral on social media.

Loureda admits she was taking a jab at her haters with the dance.

“People were talking so bad to me before the fight but if they only knew what I’ve been through at my age, and how hard it’s been for me to get here. My family isn’t rich. I’ve done this all myself and it’s all been for my family and my legacy. Here I am. This fight was just emotional. People who don’t know the background won’t understand why I danced like that but I did that because I’m petty.

“You talk sh*t about my dancing, I’m gonna do dancing TikToks after. That’s just the way I am. It was such a satisfying feeling but I asserted myself as a competitor. What I do at the gym, I know who I am. I’m not gonna let anyone tell me otherwise. I know what I can do in this sport and I know I can be the champ.”