STEPHEN Loman must still be on cloud 9.
Loman literally manhandled many–time bantamweight world champion Bibiano Fernandes during their highly anticipated match–up in ONE Championship last weekend.
The Team Lakay fighter, who was a five-time world champion in Brave Combat Federation before moving to ONE, showed the world what he is capable of.
Prior to the bout, there were a lot of questions surrounding Loman before his biggest fight against Fernandes.
The Filipino phenom pulled out his entire bag of tricks as he dominated the former ONE Bantamweight World Champion from start to finish to earn a unanimous decision win and leave no doubt about who’s next in the division’s world title picture.
Loman was quicker to the punch on the feet as he stalked Fernandes from the onset. The Team Lakay sensation mixed his punches with a variety of kicks – from teeps to head kicks to leg kicks – frustrating the 42-year-old Brazilian, who looked a step slower than his younger counterpart.
Things then went from bad to worse for Fernandes, as Loman surprised the BJJ black belt by landing takedowns and controlling him for most of the second and third rounds. The Filipino delivered elbows and punches from the AMC Pankration star’s guard, easily pulling away on the judges’ scorecards.
The unanimous decision was Loman’s 11th straight win and his third consecutive in ONE Championship as he improved to 17-2 overall.
With this stunning performance, the 27-year-old could be looking at the winner of the upcoming fight between John Lineker and Fabricio Andrade for the vacant ONE bantamweight world title at ONE on Prime Video 7 on February 10.
Not only did Loman send a message to the bantamweight division by defeating Fernandes, he also made sure that everyone heard him.
In his first ONE appearance, he immediately sent a message by knocking out former contender Yusup Saadulev and then scored a unanimous decision win against Shoko Sato before his impressive win last weekend.
It seems Loman wants to clean – out this division just like what he did in Brave.
Despite his impressive performance, Loman was not able to clinch a US $50,000 bonus.
Many believe Loman deserves the bonus.
But ONE says otherwise.
Pathetic.
