MMA News: Stephen Loman Responds To Kwon Won Il, Reveals Goals For 2022

After a successful debut under the ONE Championship banner back in December, Stephen Loman is aiming to achieve greater heights in 2022.

In an exclusive interview with the International Business Times, Loman revealed that he plans on fighting for the ONE bantamweight title within the year and that he is ready to face any opponent.

“Every time I fight, I bring out the best of me to finish the fight. I became the undisputed champion in BRAVE CF before and here in ONE Championship, a bigger stage, it’s another challenge for me to fight anyone and I am ready again to show my skills,” said Loman.

Loman entered the rankings after knocking out the then-ranked Yusup Saadulaev, taking his spot as the third-best bantamweight in the organization.

Living up to his moniker as “The Sniper,” Loman repeatedly tagged Saadulaev with a variety of shots and two overhand lefts later secured the victory in his favor with a first-round knockout.

The Team Lakay standout was quoted a few weeks after the bout that he would like to face South Korean knockout artist Kwon Won Il, but the latter dismissed Loman’s callout as he believes that the hard-hitting Filipino must face others first before claiming a title shot.

Loman was asked about Kwon’s comments and declared that they will have to fight sooner or later in order to determine the next title contender.

“We [are] ranked in the Top 5 and closer to fight for the title. I see that whoever wins will be next in [line for a] title shot so he has no choice but to accept the fight,” Loman insisted.

The current bantamweight champion in Bibiano Fernandes will be putting his title on the line against John Lineker in the main event of ONE: Bad Blood next Friday, February 11.

Since Lineker is the No. 1-seeded bantamweight and the next two being Kwon and Loman respectively, a cage encounter between the two would be likely to happen at one of the Singapore-based promotion’s upcoming events.