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Bibiano Fernandes is regarded as a legend in ONE Championship. The 41-year-old fighter has already made a huge impact in MMA and he doesn't see himself retiring from the sport very soon.
Fernandes has been competing professionally since 2004. He had a memorable encounter with Urijah Faber in 2006 at KOTC wherein he lost via TKO in the first round.
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Since then, 'The Flash' has fought in multiple organizations such as Raw Combat, K-1 and Dream before finding a home in ONE Championship in August 2012. The Brazilian fighter became the bantamweight champion in May 2013 and was undefeated in his next nine fights.
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Besting Kevin Belingon in their trilogy battle, Fernandes still feels confident that he can maintain competing at the top level for a few more years and will let fate determine when he will hang up his MMA gloves in ONE Championship.
In an interview with the South China Morning Post, he said:
"If God gives me health and I feel good and strong, I can fight for a long time. The moment I woke up one day and I say ‘you know what, I don’t want to do this anymore. I love training, I love competition but I have to understand that something is out of my control like I would like to fight right now but I know I cannot do that. For this, I have to slow down, it’s okay. Take two years off of my life, I suppose five in two years but I didn’t do it and now I have to see what’s going on there. But the MMA game, I understand."
A perfect 2022 for Bibiano Fernandes in ONE Championship and beyond
Bibiano Fernandes is expected to return back to the ONE Championship cage to defend his title against John Lineker in ONE: X slated to happen in early 2022. The veteran fighter hopes that his luck inside the cage carries over to life outside MMA. He said:
"A perfect year for me would be, the most important thing is health, that’s the best thing. Good mindset, good motivation because if you don’t have the motivation you will feel a little bit stuck in life. For me it’s my health, my kid’s health, my family’s health, my fans are good, everybody’s good I’m fine, you know. And motivation, you have to keep moving forward."
Looking ahead, Fernandes sees himself defending his ONE Championship bantamweight title at least two more times. He added:
"How does 2022 look for me? I want to defend my belt. I will defend my belt at least two times this year but again, I have to wait for ONE and see how’s it going out there."
