Joshua Pacio, Eduard Folayang and a plethora of Team Lakay stars are heading to the Mall of Asia Arena this January to open their 2020 campaign in ONE Championship.
“The Passion” is scheduled to defend his ONE Strawweight title against Alex “Little Rock” Silva during ONE: Fire And Fury to be held on January 31, 2020 at the MOA in Pasay.
Pacio, fresh from a successful defense on his second reign at the division, currently possess a 15-3 record as a professional MMA fighter and has won six 6 of his last 7 fights.
Pacio has knocked out five of his opponents and registered eight submission wins.
He originally took possession the strawweight belt by hacking a unanimous decision victory over Japanese Yoshitaka Naito in September of 2018 only to surrender it another Japanese, Yosuke Saruta, in his first defense in January this year, albeit in a controversial fashion.
ONE immediately ordered a rematch and Pacio exacted revenge by knocking Saruta out to recapture the belt last April.
He thwarted the challenge of compatriot Rene Catalan in a title match last November, submitting the veteran in Round Two.
The Brazilian Silva is one of the veteran fighters of ONE at 37. He currently holds a 9-4 record and is one of the grapplers in the promotion who is tough to best.
His wrestling skills is so evident as 8 of his 9 wins came via submissions. Although he seem to lack the knockout power to floor his opponents, he wasn’t floored nor submitted either, all of his losses came via decisions.
He holds notable victories over Filipinos, having defeated the Catalan clan, Rene, Robin, and Ruel, and Roy Doliquez, as well as, Japan’s Hayoto Suzuki, who once defeated Pacio by a rear-naked choke.
He, however, also lost a triology to Naito by losing the last two fights of the series and fell to Geje Eustaquio early in his ONE stint.
He is still a dangerous opponent for Pacio as he is a former champion and could be unpredictable. His roller-coaster ride to the podium had him losing three of his last five fights but is actually on a two-bout winning streak Xuewen Peng and Stefer Rahardian.
On the other hand, Folayang, the former ONE lightweight world champion, is back in the ring against Pakistan’s Ahmed Mujtaba.
Folayang seems to be bound for another comeback after yielding the lightweight title to Shinya Aoki last March and losing to Eddie Alvarez, in a close match that could have gone either way, last August.
Folayang return to prominence was actually derailed by his missing to compete for the title he lost in the Grand Pirx due to visa issues.
He got his return going by scoring a second round technical decision against Mongolian Tsogookhuu Amarsana also in November 8 although the abbreviated victory was due to a cut he sustained.
Folayang hopes for a better outcome against Mutjaba, “The Wolverine” who might gives others a shiver if one is to just take his nickname in reference to the famous Marvel superhero character.
Mutjaba has a 7-2 professional career fight record, with four submission and a knockout. He, however, is just 2-2 in ONE fights.
Also appearing in the card are 2019 Southeast Asia Games gold medalist Gina Iniong, Danny Kingad, and Lito Adiwang.
The “Conviction” was one of those who closed the brilliant SEA Games stint of the Philippines by bagging a gold in kickboxing during the penultimate day of the competitions. She will square off against India’s Asha Roka in the undercard.
Kingad tries to put his title campign back on track as he faces China’s Xie Wei in a flyweight clash.
Kingad is on a hot streak, winning six out of his last seven bouts. His only loss was suffered against the legendary Demetrious Johnson in the final round of the ONE Flyweight World Grand Prix.
Lastly, Adiwang is scheduled to test the mettle against Thailand’s Pongsiri Mitsatit.
His continued rise in ONE Championship started by participating in ONE Warrior Series, where he railed off three impressive victories to earn a six-figure contract with the promotion,
Adiwang announced his entry to the main roster debut in October by an explosive victory over Senzo Ikeda via a first round stoppage.
Even this early, Adiwang is showing promise to attaining superstardom in the strawweight division and could be joining Pacio as the forces in the division.
By ARMANDO M. BOLISLIS
File photo from ONE Championship