STEPHEN Loman is set for another cage return as he defends his world bantamweight title in Brave Combat Federation (CF) on November 16.
The Team Lakay fighter will be challenged by Felipe Efrain from Brazil in the main event of Brave 16 at Khalifa Sports City at Isa Town, Bahrain during the Brave International Combat Week 2018.
Loman is the first fighter from Philippines to be crowned as a world champion in Bahrain’s first MMA promotion after knocking out Gurdarshan Mangat within the first round in November 2016 and was crowned by His Highness Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa.
Later, Loman made his first historic title defense in United Kingdom where he faced former IMMAF gold medalist Frans Mlambo in a fight that went all five rounds to be decided in favor of Loman.
The 23–year-old is currently the longest reigning champion and the youngest fighter to be crowned a champion of Brave who trains under veteran coach, Mark Sangiao at Team Lakay which is considered as one of the best fight teams in Asia.
Although Efrain suffered a loss against Mlambo, he emerged strong with a 41 second knockout victory over Arnold Quero at Brave 14 hosted in Tangier, Morocco to earn him the opportunity to challenge Loman for the championship.
Efrain trains at the Chute Boxe Diego Lima which also hosts veteran bantamweight fighters including Thomas Almeida.
The bout marks the first time Team Lakay clashes with Chute Boxe and a win will be iconic for both the fight teams.
Meanwhile, members of the Baguio City Council lauded Team Lakay for a recent win abroad, bringing pride to the highlands.
In move by councilor Joel Alangsab adopted by the entire body, Joshua Pacio, Danny Kingad and coach Mark Sangiao was lauded for their successful campaign in ONE: Conquest of Heroes last month in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Pacio (16-2) won a hard-fought, five-round unanimous decision against Ysohitaka Naito (13-2) in their highly anticipated rematch for the strawweight world title with the Team Lakay earning a unanimous decision win while Danny Kingad walked away with the unanimous decision victory against Yuya Wakamatsu to improve his winning streak to three straight fights.
“The aforementioned successful campaign not only serves as an inspiration to our local athletes, but also brings prestige and honor to the City of Baguio and to the Philippines in general, hence, worthy of recognition,” Alangsab said. (Roderick Osis with a report from Maria Elena Catajan)