Joshua Pacio defended title in a first round knockout at ONE Revolution

It was a big night for Team Lakay as two of their fighters saw action at ONE Revolution. Lito “The Thunderkid” Adiwang faced off with the Wolf of the Grasslands Hexigetu of China while the Strawweight Champion Joshua “The Passion” Pacio defended his title against Yosuke “The Ninja” Saruta in a rubber match.

Joshua Pacio vs. Yosuke Saruta

This is the third time that these champions have met. In their first fight, Saruta took Pacio’s belt by defeating the champion via unanimous decision. But the reight of Saruta as a champion was cut short when Pacio claimed it on their second meeting with a spectacular knockout. In this third fight, Joshua Pacio sealed his reign as the ONE Strawweight division undisputed champion by scoring a first-round knockout on Saruta.

The knockout showed that Joshua Pacio is a balanced fighter with knockout powers in his punches and kicks as well as a submission specialist, after all, he invented the submission move called the Passion lock.  On their pre-fight interview, Pacio mentioned that he will be showing a new submission move and he will be calling it the Hanging Monkey, however, fans didn’t see that move as Pacio beautifully executed a right-hand counter punch that rocked Saruta and this was followed by a barrage of punched which the contender never recovered from prompting the referee to stop the fight. Joshua Pacio dedicated his win to all Filipinos to uplift our spirits during these trying times.

Lito Adiwang vs. Hexigetu

Lito Adiwang faced a strong opponent in the person of Hexigetu, the fighter from China. The fight lasted three rounds and ended in a decision that favored the Thunderkid. While Hexigetu is known to be a ferocious fighter that can take strong punches, the fighter from China did not account for the lightning-fast flying knee strikes of Lito Adiwang. The early flying knee that happened in a split-second, landed on the upper body part of Hexigetu and rocked him. That strike threw Hexigetu off his game that made him commit several illegal shots to the groin of Adiwang, resulting in two yellow cards against the fighter from China.

After more than a year, Team Lakay is back on their quest for greatness in ONE Championship. These wins paved the way and served as a sort of inspiration for the next fighters of the fabled Team Lakay of the Cordillera.

Watch ONE Revolution Here: