MANILA – Filipino mixed martial arts fighter Joshua Pacio reclaimed the ONE Strawweight World Championship after knocking down Japanese Yosuke Saruta on Friday night at SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
The stoppage victory was a sweet revenge for Pacio after failing to defend his strawweight world title back in January following a close decision defeat to Saruta in Indonesia.
The Baguio City native showed his aggressiveness early in the match with his cracking hits toward Saruta. He twice caught the Japanese with guillotine choke attempts when the champion was going for the takedown.
Pacio showed his hunger for the world title more in the fourth as he unloaded body shots on Saruta from a clinch before dropping the Japanese with a sick knee to the head.
“Like I said when we first faced each other there was a lot of hesitation,” the 23-year-old Team Lakay standout Pacio said after the match. “I applied the game plan and you saw it here.”
With the victory, Pacio has improved his MMA record to 17 wins and three defeats, while Saruta saw his record dropped to 19-9-3 win-loss-draw with the loss.
In the undercard, Edward Kelly displayed his striking prowess to come away with a technical knockout victory over Sung Jung Lee, while his brother Eric was knocked down by Kwon Won Il 19 seconds into the match.
Meanwhile, Filipino Ramon Gonzales (4-2) made quick work of Akihiro Fujisawa (5-1) with a submission win at the 1:19 mark of the first round./PN
