ANOTHER stacked card by One Fighting Championship will excite the MMA world this coming 24th of September. The event will be headlined by the reigning and defending lightweight champion ChristianLee of Evolve MMA team and Ok Rae Yoon from South Korea.
In a trilogy match-up, ONE Strawweight world champion Joshua “The Passion” Pacio from the world renowned MMA training ground, Team Lakay Training Center, will put his belt on the line against Yosuke Saruta of Japan. The two first fought in 2019 where Saruta dethroned the Igorot fighter in a controversial split decision win that proceeded into an immediate rematch the same year. In their rematch which took place in Pasay City, Philippines, Pacio would go on to knock out the Japanese via perfectly timed head kick in the fourth round.
On November during that same year, Pacio successfully defended his belt against Filipino compatriot Rene Catalan by submitting the older fighter in the second round of the scheduled five-round fight.
Pacio’s greatest test would come in the form of Brazilian jujitsu black belt Alex Silva in their title fight last January 31, 2020. Silva put the reigning champion in the deep waters with his world class submission skills, but in the end the Filipino superstar was awarded the spilt decision victory, while retaining his belt.
Meanwhile Saruta, who is a former ONE strawweight and Shooto flyweight world champion had a back-to-back win over Daichi KItakata and Yoshitaka Naito after his loss to Pacio.
Also in the fight card, rising Igorot MMA superstar Lito Adiwang will also continue to climb up in the ONE Strawweight rankings as he tries to hunt down Hexigeto a phenom and durable fighter from the grasslands of China. – Tan Dulag
