ONE Championship: Pacio seeks to open the year 2019 with a bang
FULFILLED his dream of becoming a world champion in the about-to-end year, ONE Championship world strawweight champion Joshua “The Passion” Pacio of the Philippines seeks to begin 2019 with a bang as he makes his first title defense in January.
To take on Japanese challenger Hayato Suzuki, 22-year-old Pacio is set to headline “ONE: Eternal Glory” on Jan. 19 in Jakarta, Indonesia.
The title fight is set to mark the first time that Mr. Pacio of Team Lakay is defending his title after winning it all in September over erstwhile champion Yoshitaka Naito of Japan by way of unanimous decision.
The title conquest of Mr. Pacio was also payback on Mr. Naito, who stopped the Filipino champion by submission (rear-naked choke) in their first encounter in October 2016.
It was also the fourth straight victory for the Benguet native.
Looking ahead to his first title defense, Mr. Pacio and his team said the Suzuki fight is something they are “very determined” to get to set the pace for them in 2019.
It also being a rematch of Messrs. Pacio and Suzuki’s 2017 fight also adds further ember to their determination.
In said fight, Mr. Pacio (16-2) fell to Mr. Suzuki in the first round by submission through rear-naked choke.
On the other end, Mr. Suzuki (20-1-2) tries to take the title away from Mr. Pacio on the strength of a three-fight winning streak.
His last victory came last month at the expense of Pongsiri Mitsatit, who he made short work of with a first-round submission (rear-naked choke).
US BROADCASTING
Incidentally, the Pacio-Suzuki fight is set to be seen by a wider audience as it is to be beamed to the United States after ONE Championship inked a deal with Turner Sports to broadcast its fights in the territory.
According to published reports, the deal would take effect in January of 2019, in time for the PacioSuzuki fight, which is kicking off ONE Championship’s season next year.
The US broadcasting is the latest of many developments for ONE in further raising its stock following the high-profile signings of top fighters Eddie “The Underground King” Alvarez, Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson and Sage Northcutt, among others.
Former women’s Ultimate Fighting Championship champion Miesha Tate is also on board ONE as vice-president. —