ONE bantamweight prospect Stephen Loman might be one win away from receiving a world title shot in ONE Championship. This is quite remarkable as 'The Sniper' made his promotional debut just less than a year ago.
At ONE on Prime Video 4 on November 18, Loman will face former ONE bantamweight world champion Bibiano 'The Flash' Fernandes.
Fernandes is fresh off losing his belt via a devastating KO loss to John Lineker last March. It was the first time 'The Flash' has been knocked out in 16 years. Even Loman's own teammate, former ONE bantamweight king Kevin Belingon, couldn't finish Fernandes in the four fights he's faced him.
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Stephen Loman, however, is confident that he will go for the KO and rattle the iron jaw of 'The Flash' come fight night. In an interview with ONE Championship, 'The Sniper' said:
"If I see the opportunity to finish him, I won’t hesitate. End the fight as soon as possible, that’s always the goal. I won’t make any predictions right now, but I believe I have the tools to finish Bibiano Fernandes."
Always looking for the kill is a sign of a true hunter and it looks like Stephen Loman has all the tools and weapons to finish his prey at ONE on Prime Video 4. All we need to do is wait and see if he can pull it off.
Stephen Loman plans to surprise Bibiano Fernandes with his grappling
Apparently, it's not just his fists that Stephen Loman plans to finish Bibiano Fernandes with - he's also open to using his grappling and submissions. In a separate interview with ONE Championship, the 27-year-old Filipino striker vowed to surprise everyone - including Fernandes - with his underrated grappling skills:
"We are working on our grappling everyday, and our confidence is building. Fans know Team Lakay as strikers, but I think we can surprise a lot of people."
Stephen Loman's team, Team Lakay, is largely overlooked when it comes to their grappling as they're known as a striking-centered stable. In addition to their legendary striking arsenal, however, the team has exemplified some of the best showmanship of grappling in ONE Championship.
One of their current world champions, ONE strawweight king Joshua Pacio, pulled off one of the most impressive submissions in ONE history on Pongsiri Mitsatit. It would be a grave mistake to underestimate Loman and his team's ground skills, even if you're a multi-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion like Bibiano Fernandes.