Bibiano Fernandes has fought a grand total of eight times in One Championships, as he is a former One Championships Interim Bantamweight Champion and the current One Championships Bantamweight Champion. On December 30 of 2017, Fernandes will officially become a free agent and if an MMA promotion has a lot of cash, he's listening.
“My contract expires on Dec. 30,” Fernandes told MMA Fighting. “I haven't spoken with (ONE) yet. I haven't decided what I’m going to do next. I fought for free in the past, for the challenge, but I’m over this now. I have proved who I am and what I can do. If someone gives me the opportunity to face the best challenges, and it makes sense financially for me, I’ll definitely go there. I had a lot of tough fights here, but fighting elsewhere without a good paycheck is not worth it. I just broke my nose, man. I’m not fighting just to fight. I’m over this phase. If you’re starting your career now, train hard and your time will come. Do you want to become a champion one day? You will be. But don’t forget that you have responsibilities in life. You have to eat, sleep, take care of your family. Who will worry about that?”
If Fernandes does in fact sign with a different promotion other than One Championships, his title defense against Reese McClaren at One Championships 50 would be his last fight there, a fight that proved to be a tough one for the champion.
“A fight always brings surprises, there’s always something we can’t control,” Fernandes said. “The first two rounds were easy. The only thing is that he switched stances, landed a good left hand and broke my nose. That was one of the surprises I had in the fight. It caught me right between the nose and the eye, and it was blurry. I had double vision the entire fight. I had to stay focused. I couldn't do take him down because when I shot, my nose would hit his leg and start bleeding again. I said ‘I can’t take this guy down, I have to stand and trade with him.’ I didn’t train for a southpaw. I thought he was ‘normal,’ right-handed, and when the fight started, he switched stances and kept running to the left side. I didn't train for that. I didn't know he would do that. He’s young in the sport so I only had a two or three fights to watch. He did switch stances in those fights, but always went back. He had a nice strategy.”
It has been well over three years since Fernandes fought outside of One Championships, his last fight outside the promotion was a victory over Yoshiro Maeda at Dream 18.
