At ONE Fight Night 14, Stephen Loman faced the biggest test of his career in a high-stakes matchup versus a former kingpin.
Since signing with the promotion, ‘The Sniper’ had secured three consecutive wins to find himself in the upper echelons of the bantamweight division.
At ONE on Prime Video 4, he took out former ONE bantamweight world champion Bibiano Fernandes to earn his biggest victory upto that point, which only set himself up for an even bigger fight next time out.
Coming into ONE Fight Night 14 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, Loman knew that he had an incredibly difficult challenge in front of him.
Former kingpin John Lineker had recently rebounded from his loss to Fabricio Andrade with a knockout of Kim Jae Woong to prove that he is still just as dangerous as ever.
When they met inside the circle, the Brazilian’s high-level experience was invaluable for him as he got the decision win over the up-and-coming contender that was looking to take his spot.
Unfortunately for the Filipino contender, he wasn’t able to implement his gameplan and was left on the outside, offering up little offense to try and change the course of the fight.
In an interview with The MMA Superfan, Stephen Loman reflected on what went wrong and what he learned from sharing the circle with a veteran of the sport:
“I have to make a lot of adjustments because he’s also a shorter fighter. I need to push myself more, especially with my wrestling transitions and my ground game. I need to stay focused.”
Watch the full interview below:
Though he may have tasted defeat under the ONE Championship banner for the first time, ‘The Sniper’ will no doubt benefit from the experience going forward in his career.
North American viewers with an active Amazon Prime Video subscription can rewatch all the action from ONE Fight Night 14 via the free event replay.
