Pacio - Naito rematch etched for ‘Conquest of Heroes’
INDONESIA will once again play host to another exciting evening of world-class martial arts action as reigning One Championship strawweight champion Yoshitaka Naito defends his title against Team Lakay’s Joshua Pacio.
Set on September 22 at the Jakarta Convention Center, the largest global sports media property in Asian history has lined up the biggest and brightest stars to showcase their incredible skills.
Naito is one of the most successful martial artists to ever emerge from Japan. In just four short years since debuting in 2012, Naito conquered
the notoriously competitive Japanese martial arts scene, capturing the Shooto strawweight title.
Since making his ONE debut in 2016, Naito has captured the strawweight title on two occasions, defeating former champions Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke and Alex Silva.
Pacio, a former world title challenger was inspired to take up martial arts since he was 12 years old.
After an undefeated amateur career, Pacio soon made his professional debut, where he went 60 before making it to the global stage of ONE Championship.
In 2016, he got his chance against Naito, falling just short of victory. Now riding on a threebout winning streak, Pacio has earned a rematch against the champion.
Also in the fight card is former ONE flyweight world champion Kairat Akhmetov as he takes on Ma Hao Bin.
Akhmetov began training in martial arts in 2000, and proved to be as talented as his father, eventually becoming a three-time National Greco-Roman Wrestling Champion.
The Kazakhstan Greco - Roma wrestler then joined ONE Championship in 2015, shocking former flyweight champion Adriano Moraes to capture the title. He eventually surrendered the belt back to Moraes in a rematch and has since been on a quest to return to title contention.
Ma Hao Bin is unbeaten in ONE Championship. Ma, a Chinese national freestyle wrestling champion, made his professional debut in January 2016, where he defeated Wu Ting Shen and Bu Huo You Ga in a single evening of action to claim the ONE Changsha bantamweight tournament championship.
Since then, the 24year-old has strung together an impressive 11-3 professional record, which includes four wins by submission and two by knockout.