MANILA – Ilonggo Rene Catalan is very much determined to snatch the strawweight world title of fellow Filipino Joshua Pacio in ONE: Masters of Fate tonight at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
The Sta. Barbara, Iloilo native shared that he has a very good training camp heading into his clash with Pacio as this could be a realization of his dream to become ONE world champion.
“I’m excited. This is it. The only thing I can ask now from my team is to pray for me in this match,” said Catalan, who took a time off his coaching duties at the Catalan Fighting System to prepare for the world title match.
Catalan added that, contrary to the tradition, he will also not be present at ringside when his younger brother Robin Catalan fights Olympic wrestler Gustavo Balart in the undercard.
“I created a training program for Robin then passed it on to our wrestling coach so he can look it over. The same thing for our striking program,” Rene said. “My coaches take care of his routine so I can focus on my own preparation.”
He added: “I already delegated the cornering duties in Robin’s fight to our coaches. As much as I want to, I have to focus on the World Title shot. I have full confidence in my coaches and in Robin that they can pull it off.”
The 40-year-old Catalan is on a tear; he won his last six ONE FC matches, including wins over Adrian Matheis, Stefer Rahardian, and most recently, a first-round TKO win over Yoshitaka Naito.
For Pacio, this will be his first title defense since regaining the belt after knocking out Japanese MMA fighter Yosuke Saruta in their rematch in April this year in Manila./PN
