Joshua Pacio relishes burden of being Philippines’ only MMA champion – ‘pressure is already my friend’
- ONE Championship’s strawweight king returns for trilogy fight against Yosuke Saruta at stacked Revolution card in Singapore
- Team Lakay star says ‘we’re fighters not just in the Circle but also in real life’ after overcoming Covid-19 during 20-month lay-off
Flash back to the end of 2018, and Filipino stable Team Lakay were sitting pretty with four MMA world champions.
Now, Joshua Pacio stands alone among the Baguio City group with gold around his shoulder, as “The Passion” gets set to return from a 20-month lay-off to defend his ONE Championship strawweight title on Friday’s stacked Revolution card in Singapore.
By far the youngest of the team’s top echelon of fighters, Pacio (19-3) has seen Geje Eustaquio (14-8), Kevin “The Silencer” Belingon (20-8) and Eduard “The Landslide” Folayang (22-12) all surrender their thrones in the Asian promotion.
He has been his country’s sole title-holder in a major MMA organisation now since March 2019, but the 25-year-old is not phased at all by the responsibility weighing heavy on his shoulders.
“We’ve been doing martial arts half of my life and pressure is already my friend,” Pacio told the Post during Thursday’s virtual pre-fight press conference.
“It’s part of my journey. No, there’s no added pressure being the lone champion in Team Lakay and the Philippines. I’m confident in my teammates that in the near future, they will be champions.”
