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Yusup Saadulaev is seeking to extend his three-fight winning streak in ONE Championship as he takes on ONE Championship debutant Stephen Loman. The bantamweight competitors are to face off on December 17 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium during the ONE: Winter Warriors II fight card.
'Maestro' prevailed over Dae Hwan Kim and Daichi Takenaka, and his most recent win was against Troy Worthen during ONE Championship - Collision Course in December 2020.
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The impressive streak pushed Saadulaev to No.3 in the bantamweight rankings behind Kevin Belingon and John Lineker. Facing Loman, the Russian fighter hopes for a title shot against Bibiano Fernandes.
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"I believe I earned it because I have not only three but an eight or a nine-win streak in the bantamweight division. I only had one loss but it was in the featherweight, three fights ago so I believe I deserve a title shot," said Saadulaev in an interview with ONE Championship.
Entering this match, Saadulaev holds a 20-5-1 professional MMA record and he is 5-1 in ONE Championship. 11 of his victories have come via submissions and his only loss in Asia's premier MMA promotion was against reigning featherweight champion Thanh Le.
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Yusup Saadulaev doing his homework ahead of his ONE Championship bout with Stephen Loman
Not to ignore his upcoming bout with Stephen Loman, Saadulaev has scouted the debuting Filipino fighter. 'Maestro' reveals that he has been following the former Brave CF champion since he had a stablemate competing in the same organization.
"I saw Stephen’s fight before because I’m a coach mostly in Moscow and one of my students is fighting in Brave Championship is Ali Bagautinov. He’s right now in a Grand Prix in flyweight so I saw some fights of Stephen. Yeah, I was having some research on him."
By observing Loman, Saadulaev feels that he is up against a powerful striker with quality ground skills. Saadulaev is also aware that their ONE Championship bout won't be an easy one.
"He’s explosive. He likes to pull on himself and then explode. He has pretty good ground control and good double-leg takedowns. He was a champion in Brave Championship and he defended his title a few times, he’s a real [inaudible] and a pretty dangerous fighter."
Loman is entering this match with a 13-2 record and was undefeated in his five Brave CF fights.
