SINGAPORE – Filipino fighter Stephen Loman hoisted the Philippine flag aloft by defeating Irish combatant Frans Mlambo on the undercard of Brave Combat Federation’s inaugural event on Friday, September 23, at the Khalifa Sports City Stadium in Manama, Bahrain.
Loman, a 21-year-old standout from the highly-revered Team Lakay, carved out a unanimous decision victory over Mlambo in a thrilling 3-round bantamweight encounter.
Despite the height and reach advantage of Mlambo, Loman banked on his extensive striking background to set up his takedown shots, which negated his opponent’s leverage in length.
As Mlambo picked his shots from an upright stance and caught his Filipino foe with a flush right hand in the first frame, Loman patiently waited for an opening to close the distance and slump his cage counterpart with a single-leg takedown.
Loman slashed elbows and rained down short punches from half guard, but Mlambo managed to return to his feet.
Mlambo regained his momentum in the toe-to-toe exchanges as he wobbled Loman with a straight right and a follow-up left hook in the dying seconds of round one that busted the Pinoy’s nose.
Mlambo tried to pick up the same pace he had in the first stanza as he leaned on his counterpunching in the second round, but Loman rushed in to score a high-impact double-leg takedown.
Although Mlambo fished for a guillotine choke, Loman was able to brush it off and maintained a sturdy top control to bombard the Irishman with heavy blows and stinging elbow shots.
In the third and final period, Loman attained a beautiful single-leg takedown that instantaneously positioned himself into side control.
Loman had Mlambo in all kinds of trouble at one point after taking his adversary’s back for a deep rear-naked choke.
A double-leg takedown within the last 20 seconds ended the third round on a high note for Loman, who earned the undivided nod from the cageside judges.
With the impressive triumph over Mlambo, Loman improves to a 7-2 professional record and is now riding high on a two-fight winning streak.
Meanwhile, Mlambo downgrades his prizefighting win-loss slate to 2-2 and tastes his first submission setback in his career.
Loman might have given the Philippines a sweet victory, but it was not a clean sweep for Filipino fighters as mixed martial arts veteran Jessie Rafols (8-6) succumbed to a first-round submission loss at the hands of Mexico’s Ivan Lopez (14-2-1).
Rafols, who stepped in as a late replacement of compatriot Crisanto Pitpitunge, was submitted by Lopez with a rear-naked choke. – Rappler.com
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