Bibiano “The Flash” Fernandes - Bantamweight MMA Champion

Bibiano Fernandes, known by the nickname “The Flash”, was born in Manaus, Amazonas Brazil. Bibiano is a 5th-Degree Black belt in BJJ and won World Championships in IBJJF and Pan American Competitions. He has been the top fighter in the light featherweight and won belts twice in FC and DREAM. Bibiano led a struggling childhood before having a successful career.

Bibiano had a struggling childhood. His mother died when he was only 8 years old. Unfortunately, his father was barely making ends meet. Bibiano spent some time in the wilderness of the Amazon forest, close to nature, and almost fell prey to Malaria. Finally, his father made him return to the capital city of Manaus. Bibiano started to hunt for an occupation that could support his finances. He also did some odd jobs. He used to stop outside the gym and watch the fighters roll and spar. They invited Bibiano to watch their training and showed him how Jiu-Jitsu works. Bibiano was interested but he did not have any money to pay for training. At this time, a lady, who regularly came to the gym for training, promised to pay for his fee and his coach also offered training in exchange for cleaning services. Bibiano started his BJJ practice and just after two weeks, he won his first match in the white belt category.

Bibiano had a fantastic career in Jiu-Jitsu. He started to climb the stairs of success in no time and was promoted to the black belt in 2002. After he won the 2002 World Championship, Bibiano was an amazingly apt learner and often finished the fight within a few minutes. He always looked for submissions.

After Bibiano's unmatched success in BJJ, he began to receive proposals to participate in MMA. Bibiano participated in MMA and secured the 31 seconds first round win. After winning his first fight, Bibiano realized that he still needed to prepare himself under the supervision of a senior MMA fighter. He thought that BJJ is the Art that he should focus on. He discontinued his MMA training for a year and devoted his time and energy for BJJ training.

Bibiano's training and hard work earned him double Gold Medals in Black Belt category. His interest in MMA grew again, and he signed his first fight with Urijah Faber. Everybody was expecting Bibiano's victory but Bibiano had to discontinue his fight due to a doctor's stoppage.

While he was in a fight, he got a severe forehead injury because of an elbow strike by the opponent. He lost his next competition against Yamamoto at K-1 Heroes in Japan. After continuous losses, He realized that he still needed practice and the right guidance to excel in  MMA.

In 2007 Bibiano left Brazil and went to Canada where he met the great instructor, Pele Landi. He started training under the supervision of Landi and secured 8 constant victories in MMA.

At Dream 11, Bibiano won against Joe Warren and Hiroyuki Takaya.  And Won the DREAM Featherweight Grand Prix and the title of first Dream Featherweight Champion.

Fernandes won against Warren by first-round Armbar and secured another victory by split decision against Takaya. 

Fernandes was competing against Joachim Hansen on March 22, 2010, at Dream 13 for defending the first title. He successfully defended his title, but unfortunately, he got defeated while defending his second title to Takaya via a unanimous decision.

Fernandes finally won against Antonio Banuelos via TKO in his first round and became the Dream Bantamweight Champion.

On June 4, 2012, the news spread that Fernandes had decided to join the UFC. There had been talks but the contract was never signed. The news spread in June 2012 that Fernandes preferred the One Championship over UFC.

Fernandes also took part in the ONE FC 5 and decided to face Gustavo Falciroli, and ultimately won the fight.

Fernandes's next step was to face Soo Chul Kim at One FC 1 Total Domination. He won the match via unanimous decision and became the Undisputed One Bantamweight Champion.

His second fight was against Masakatsu Ueda at One Fighting Championship: Rise of Heroes  on May 2, 2014. He again won the match by unanimous decision.

At one Fighting Championship Warrior, dated 5 December 2014, Bibiano regained his World Title while fighting against the deadly opponent Kim . When the competition ended with a rare naked choke in the second round.

Fernandes came face to face against Kevin Belingon At One Championship Age of Domination  on December 2, 2016.  He was successful in securing the title. The fight ended via Kimura submission in the first round. In his fifth title defense, Fernandes joined the ring against Kevin Belingon at (ONE Championship Geo Domination) on December 2, 2016. He successfully won the fight via split decision.

On February 17, 2017, Bibiano decided to resign from the One Championship.

Fernandes lost the fight with a split decision when he fought against Kevin Belingon for the second time at One Championship 78. Heart of the Lion in November 2018 in a title unification bout.

Again at “ONE Championship: A New Era begun on March 30, 2019. He won the match because the opponent was disqualified due to an illegal move. (He actually attacked the back of Fernandes's head with his elbow.  After that, he successfully regained the Bantamweight Title.

Fernandes again faced Belingon at (One Championship) on October 13, 2019. Again he was successful as he won the game in the second round with a rear naked choke submission.

Fernandes again faced John Lineker at “One Championship:X” on December 3, 2021. The event did not happen on the announced date and was postponed due to  Covid19  and then the bout was shifted to ONE Championship: Bad Blood on February 11, 2022.  

After the bout was rescheduled for “ONE Championship: Lights Out” on March 11, 2022. Unfortunately, Fernandes lost the title by the second-round Knockout.

Fernanded is married to Amanda and has three sons and their names are Elijah, Gabriel, and Lucas.

Bibiano had a great fight with Masakatsu Ueda. Bibiano went for the side mount and tried to apply the neck choke from the full mount. Ueda was striking punches to Bibanio's back to get away from the attack. Bibiano tried a nice rear naked choke but by the time he could move further, he got punched multiple times on his left eye. Finally, Bibiano tried the armbar and held back until the time was finished. Bibiano had 5 takedowns while Ueda had only one. The Fight ended with Bibiano's victory.

This was a fantastic fight with Marcos Galvao. In the start, both fighters struggled to win the other. Bibiano applied the nice armbar attack and everybody was expecting Marcos's defeat but he managed to escape. After that, there was a neck choke from Marcos' side but he managed to escape that too. Finally, the match ended with Bibiano’s victory.

Bibiano VS Reece Mclaren

Bibiano Fernandes vs Kevin Belingon

Bibiano Fernandes VS Koetsu Okazak

Photo credit: @bibianofernandes