MMA: For Bibiano Fernandes, no game plan remains the game plan against Soo Chul Kim at ONE FC: Total Domination

Brazil’s Bibiano Fernandes only has two fights under the ONE Fighting Championship banner. He debuted as the main event of ONE FC: Pride of a Nation back in August of 2012, then returned to the cage for ONE FC: Rise to Power, where he won the interim ONE FC bantamweight title. For his third fight, the veteran of 17 mixed martial arts (MMA) fights will attempt to win the real thing against Korea’s Soo Chul Kim on October 18 in Singapore.

“I see this as just another fight. I am very confident that I will emerge victorious against Soo Chul Kim," Fernandes said. “I don't mean him any disrespect. I think he has done a great job to become champion, but I feel like I am better than him. I don't see anywhere he can defeat me and I'm very confident that I will become the unified ONE FC bantamweight world champion."

Fernandes accumulated a record of 14 wins against three losses in his MMA career that has spanned seven years, and for his 18th fight, he’ll still be using his old game plan of not having one.





"I don't have a game plan to enter this fight. To me, I am just better than him in every area. To me, I will just go in with the idea of controlling the fight wherever it goes and I don't think Soo Chul Kim has any skills that I have not seen before,” Fernandes bared. “I am confident I can defeat any bantamweight in the world and the next step is getting through Soo Chul Kim."

This "no game plan mentality" has been the mantra of Fernandes throughout his life. Growing up in the slums of Manaus, Brazil, he was left to fend for himself after the passing of his mother. A young Fernandes scavenged for food in the northern Brazilian city, living on leftovers and begging for food with no plans other than surviving for the day.

The Brazilian found himself watching jiu-jitsu practitioners from outside their school. Fernandes watched from the outside and began memorizing the moves that the students did. Luck finally turned for him when one of the students of the school eventually became his friend and volunteered to pay a month’s fee for him to train.

“He asked me if I wanted to train and I immediately said yes,” Fernandes recalled.
 
All those hours Fernandes spent watching the jiu-jitsu practitioners paid off the very first time he stepped on the mat. He quickly turned heads when he submitted fighters who had years of experience. Fernandes did not plan to practice jiu-jitsu. He didn’t plan to be an MMA fighter. He just prepared himself to grab any opportunity that life will toss him.

Fernandes didn’t plan to fight for an interim title two fights into his ONE FC career. He also didn’t play to fight for the ONE FC bantamweight title on his third fight with the company. But as he has done all through his life, expect Fernandes to grab this opportunity and run with it. - AMD, GMA News