Joshua ‘The Passion’ Pacio did not disappoint his countrymen as he reclaimed the ONE Strawweight title against Japanese foe Yosuke ‘The Ninja’ Saruta in front of a sold out Mall of Asia Arena crowd on Friday night at ONE: Roots of Honor.
Pacio proved that he is the king of rematch in a convincing way when he knocked out Saruta via a fourth round knee to the head which ended their second meeting, and reclaimed the glory for the revered Filipino stable of Team Lakay.
The newly crowned two-time champion looked very sharp in the match, scoring through various strikes and matching his opponent blow-by-blow. Although he absorbed an early big right hand from the Saruta in the latter part of the opening round which rocked him, Pacio remained focus to get his head back to the match and eventually found himself in the winning end.
His two other countrymen also earned their victories in the card as fellow Team Lakay fighter Edward Kelly scored a second round TKO win over South Korea’s Sung Jong Lee in their Featherweight mixed martial arts meeting.
Ramon Gonzales joined the local party by submitting Japanese enemy Akihiro Fujisawa in an impressive Guillotine Choke submission in the very first round of a Flyweight Mixed Martial Arts encounter.
Unfortunately, Kelly’s brother, Eric Kelly was on the other side of the fence as he tasted a defeat at the hands of South Korea’s Kwon Won Il with a 19-second knockout in the first round of their Featherweight mixed martial arts match.