John Lineker got back on track after suffering a defeat earlier this year at the hands of Fabricio Andrade by winning his second match in a row at ONE Fight Night 14.
When he returned at ONE Fight Night 13 with a knockout of Kim Jae Woong to snag the victory, ‘Hands Of Stone’ demonstrated that he isn’t ready to give up his position as the best bantamweight fighter in the division. Kim Jae Woong was knocked out just before the final buzzer.
When Lineker made his way back to the circle the very next month, he was immediately met with another challenging test. This time, he was tasked with attempting to keep the division’s upcoming challenger out of the running for the title.
Since signing with ONE Championship, Stephen Loman had been on an excellent run, and he needed possibly just one more victory to clinch a title chance against Andrade, the current kingpin in the division.
Unfortunately for ‘The Sniper,’ his Brazilian opponent is a veteran for a reason, and the Singapore Indoor Stadium proved to be a venue in which that veteran’s expertise paid rewards.
In point of fact, the battle turned out to be a very routine affair for the former world champion, who was able to keep his pressure up throughout the fight despite not receiving much opposition from his opponent.
John Lineker, commenting on his triumph after the fact, told ONE Championship that he was expecting more from a competitor like Loman and that he was surprised by his performance.
To be more specific, he was taken aback by the fact that his opponent didn’t take many risks in an effort to shift the flow of the fight; yet, this is the kind of situation in which the expertise of a past world champion comes into its own.
This was the most important bout of Loman’s career up to this point, but for the Brazilian knockout artist, it was just another day at the office:
“In my opinion, he should have taken a few more chances so that we might have put up a better display. Although he has a long record of knockout victories, he did not perform up to his standards in this match.
For viewers in North America who have an active subscription to Amazon Prime Video, the full rebroadcast of ONE Fight Night 14 is currently available to stream for free as an event replay on Amazon Prime Video.
