Even though she’s only 20 years old and is still more than a month away from her professional debut, you can hear the radar cheeping for Valerie Loureda. As an Olympic caliber taekwondo master, she has a natural segue into mixed martial arts. As a model from Miami, she has a certain star appeal — the ability to juxtapose herself from beauty to beast (and back again).
And as a daughter who was asked to grow up quick — perhaps at the expense of her Olympic dreams — she has earned enough life experience to handle her Feb.