“I don’t want to be careless” - Stephen Loman doesn’t want to make mistakes against Bibiano Fernandes

Team Lakay standout Stephen Loman is just days away from the biggest mixed martial arts fight of his professional career. Breaking into the bantamweight top-five with back-to-back wins over Yusup Saadulaev and Shoko Sato, ‘The Sniper’ has a chance to jump to the front of a line with a win over ONE Championship icon, Bibiano Fernandes.

The two bantamweight stars will throw hands when they meet as a part of the stacked ONE on Prime Video 4 lineup. A lineup that includes lightweight world champion Christian Lee going for dual-champ status against current welterweight titleholder Kiamrian Abbasov.

Ahead of the high-profile bantamweight scrap, Stephen Loman sat down with ONE Championship to discuss his preparations for the bout and the importance of being tactical against one of the most dangerous fighters in ONE history:

“I don’t want to be careless in the fight, so I have to approach things tactically. One mistake could cost me the fight. He’s that dangerous. We’re working on a good game plan to beat Bibiano Fernandes."

He added:

“Our team has a lot of experience fighting him, with Kevin [Belingon] having almost four fights against him. We know how he works, his strengths, his weaknesses. I’m confident we have the right strategy in this one.”

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Stephen Loman is embracing the pressure of the moment

Stepping into the circle with a fighter as successful as Bibiano Fernandes could put pressure on even the most tenured and experienced fighters in the world. Instead of letting that pressure buckle him, Stephen Loman is embracing it.

Conversing with The MMA Super Fan, Loman revealed that for him, pressure is motivation to keep working and improving, no matter the circumstances:

“Of course there’s pressure to always be on top because you have to maintain that status you’re in. But this is what we wanted to do, and it’s our responsibility to always be one of the best teams out there. We’re here already, so we really have to do our best to stay here at the top.”

Loman continued his thoughts, saying:

“But that extra pressure is also a bit of motivation for us. We always have to be positive and keep working to improve on what we are right now… Pressure is also important for me, I have to keep going at him, that's why I’m pushing myself hard in training.”