2022 Filipino Fighter of the Year: Stephen Loman

The Philippines will be ending the year without a single world champion in professional combat sports. But as the likes of former world champions Jerwin Ancajas, Mark Magsayo, and Joshua Pacio have stumbled in their respective quests to defend their gold, fresh faces have emerged seemingly ready to become the next flag bearer of the Philippines.

But of all the impressive performances and brilliant promises from the new generation of fighters in both boxing and mixed martial arts this year, it was former Brave Combat Federation bantamweight champion Stephen Loman of Team Lakay that stood out the most after scoring big wins at Asia’s premier martial arts organization ONE Championship.

Loman, 17-2 as a professional mixed martial artist, signed with the promotion in 2021 and quickly made his mark in the bantamweight division with a first-round technical knockout over Yusup Saadulaev in December of that year.

Loman showcased in his ONE Championship debut that any Team Lakay representative would be tough to crack in the striking department and did so again in his first fight of 2022 against Japanese veteran Shoko Sato at ONE: X last March where he won by way of unanimous decision.

But what made Loman stand out amid the victories of Filipino prizefighters this year was his highly dominant performance against former ONE bantamweight world champion Bibiano Fernandes, touted as the greatest world champion in ONE Championship history.

Fernades is known to Filipino fight fans for his four encounters with former world champion Kevin Belingon, who he defeated thrice from 2016 to 2019. Known for his textbook boxing and world class Jiu-jitsu, Fernandes was the biggest name and was supposedly the toughest test yet in Loman’s mixed martial arts career.

But Loman had other plans. Not only was he always one step up ahead of the Brazilian, but he also showcased that he could beat the former world champion in every facet of MMA as he dominated the contest both on the feet and on the ground. More impressively, Loman outwrestled the grappling specialist throughout the course of their three five-minute round encounter—sending shockwaves that he is an evolving fighter.

In the dying seconds of the match, Loman unleashed vicious ground and pound at the Brazilian mixed martial arts legend to end the contest with an exclamation point. Fernandes looked defeated after fifteen minutes, a rare sight for him as he knew even the scorecards were revealed that the Filipino handily won the fight via unanimous decision.

With the ONE bantamweight world title currently vacant, Stephen Loman sits at the No. 3 spot of the rankings and is merely awaiting to challenge the winner of the upcoming rematch for the vacant ONE bantamweight world title between former world titleholder John Lineker and Fabricio Andrade.

—JMB, GMA Integrated News