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Second-ranked ONE bantamweight MMA contender Stephen Loman entered his showdown with John Lineker on an impressive 11-fight winning streak, including three straight in the Circle.
As such, ‘Hands of Stone’ was expecting to be in the fight of his life against the Team Lakay star when they crossed swords at ONE Fight Night 14 last month. Loman, though, failed to meet the former bantamweight king’s expectations in the aftermath of their 15-minute scrap at Lumpinee Stadium.
Lineker notched his second straight win by outclassing ‘The Sniper’, as he cruised to a dominant unanimous decision victory.
Speaking during his OFN14 post-event interview, the Brazilian heavy bomber expressed his disappointment for Loman’s unwillingness to engage during their high-stakes affair:
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“I expected more from Loman. I think he was very cautious. He tried to preserve himself more in the fight. He tried to fight without taking any risks to try to win on points. But I think you have to get in the cage and show that you deserve to be there in that position.”
Truth be told, Stephen Loman did not look like his usual self against Lineker. ‘The Sniper’ was on the back foot for most of the bout and failed to chain his takedowns with his strikes, which made it highly predictable.
Then again, we also can’t blame the Filipino for fighting cautiously since he shared the ring with arguably one of the nastiest knockout artists in all of MMA.
Loman certainly felt the 33-year-old brawler’s freakish power from the get-go and couldn’t quite get his groove. Plus, he knew that Lineker was dangerous as long as there was time left on the clock, as we’ve seen in his last-gasp KO of Kim Jae Woong.
It will be back to the drawing board for Loman, while Lineker moves one step closer to a possible trilogy with bantamweight MMA world champion Fabricio Andrade.
The full replay of ONE Fight Night 14 is available anytime on demand for Amazon Prime Video subscribers in North America.
