March 29, 2024

Team Lakay’s Stephen Loman set a record as the longest mixed martial arts champion in Brave Combat Federation to cling to his title for over 900 days.

The 24-year-old Loman captured the inaugural Brave CF bantamweight world belt with a technical knockout of Gurdanshan Mangat in November 2017.

Since then, Loman held the title with four successful title defenses against some of the formidable challengers in the world, including Frans Mlambo, who is one of the sparring partners of MMA superstar and world champion Conor McGregor.

As a reigning champion, Loman has displayed tremendous improvements in his fight arsenal from striking to ground defense that made him the longest Brave CF champion.

Last year alone, he made two successful title defenses against Elias Boudegzdame, whom he knocked out in the very first round while he went toe-to-toe against Ilias Sanoudakis for a unanimous decision.

Such impressive performances made Loman the unanimous choice for the Brave CF “2019 Fighter of the Year” plum, which he also won in 2018.

It was also last year that the city council through a re-solution authored by Councilor Arthur Allad-iw congratulated the University of the Cordilleras Crimino-logy graduate for bannering the country’s flag in one of the fast-rising MMA promotions in the world.

“Loman is from the well-known team worldwide, Team Lakay, and is an inspiration to all athletes and brought prestige and honor to the City of Baguio, to the Cordillera region, and the country as a whole,” read the resolution.

Holding a professional MMA record of 10 wins and two losses, Loman started his fighting career at a young age and made his professional debut with a TKO of Raffy Lim in December 2012.

He has competed in several MMA promotions such as the defunct Guam-based Pacific Xtreme Combat and Universal Reality Combat Championship before he signed a contract with Brave CF. He was one of the featured fighters in the promotional debut of the Bahrain-based MMA organization. – Harley F. Palangchao