ONE Championship: ‘The Sniper’ Stephen Loman picks off Yusup Saadulaev, stakes quick claim for title shot on debut
- Filipino immediately puts himself in bantamweight title mix with first-round TKO at Winter Warriors II
- ‘I prepared a lot and it paid off, I’m very happy,’ says Team Lakay’s Loman after win over No 3-ranked Russian
Stephen Loman made a huge statement on his ONE Championship debut, immediately inserting himself into the bantamweight title with a first-round TKO of Yusup Saadulaev in Singapore.
“The Sniper” had crumpled Saadulaev with a left hook with just under a minute to go in the opening stanza on the Winter Warriors II card, which was recorded on December 3 and aired on Friday night.
Referee Olivier Coste was quick to jump in and drag Loman away as the Filipino looked to deliver some follow-up hammer fists to the Dagestan native, who got to his feet – seemingly to protest an early stoppage – only to lose his legs again and face plant on the canvas.
“Right now I am very happy because I got a knockout win over the No 3-ranked contender Yusup,” Loman said in his post-fight interview in the ONE Circle.
In victory, Loman may well have jumped ahead of his Team Lakay stablemate, the former champion Kevin Belingon, in the queue for a title shot.
No 2-ranked Belingon suffered a shock second-round TKO defeat by South Korea’s Kwon Won-il, who could well now face Loman in a title eliminator.