Stephen Loman admits he succumbed to the mental battle against John Lineker: “I think the pressure got to me”

Second-ranked ONE Championship bantamweight MMA contender and Team Lakay standout ‘The Sniper’ Stephen Loman has only himself to blame in a recent setback against Brazilian rival ‘Hands of Stone’ John Lineker.

Loman, supposedly next in line to challenge for the bantamweight MMA throne, risked his would-be world title shot against the former ONE bantamweight MMA world champion at ONE Fight Night 14 a few weeks ago in Singapore.

Unfortunately, ‘The Sniper’ put together a lackluster performance against his toughest test to date, losing by unanimous decision after three rounds, as well as surrendering an all but guaranteed shot at the world title to Lineker.

Speaking to YouTube channel, The MMA Superfan, in a recent interview, Loman talked about coming into the Lineker fight with a set game plan. But when that failed, he had no answer.

‘The Sniper’ said:

“Yes. Our initial plan was to take it to the ground and control the fight from there. If it wasn’t there, the backup plan was to keep it on the feet and strike with him and mix up the wrestling. Unfortunately, Lineker read our plan and he countered my wrestling well. The plan worked in the first round, but I wasn’t able to have the same success in the final round.”

While it wasn’t an official world title eliminator, Lineker will likely get a rematch against reigning ONE bantamweight MMA world champion ‘Wonder Boy’ Fabricio Andrade, where Loman would have for sure secured an opportunity to claim the throne had he won.

Nevertheless, the humble Filipino warrior says he has now moved on from the defeat, and is looking forward to redeeming himself in the future.

He gave props to Lineker for the victory.

Loman added:

“I think the pressure got to me too. I lost focus as well. But hats off to Lineker, I can see he also prepared well to counter our game plan. I really gave my best.”

Fans in the United States and Canada can catch all the action of ONE Fight Night 14 via replay on-demand on Amazon Prime Video.