By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
ONE Fighting Championship strawweight champion Joshua Pacio has not seen action in the ring for almost a year now.
Due to the restrictions brought by the pandemic, the Filipino mixed martial artist is hoping to get a bout as soon as possible in order to get back on track and show ONE he is still the reigning champion.
“As an athlete, miss na miss ko nang lumaban. Pero tuloy pa rin yung training para walang ring rust sa next na laban,” said the pride of Team Lakay.
His previous fight was last January 2020 during ONE: Fire and Fury where he survived a surging Alex Silva via a split decision victory.
After the title defense, Pacio and Team Lakay were locked down in their training camp in Baguio after the pandemic broke loose.
However, despite a long lay-off in the league, Pacio still continues to train and confirmed that he hasn’t lost a step and only got better.
“Humihigpit na yung strawweight division at talagang nagle-level up na yung every athlete. As a champion, trabaho lang natin is we need to train. Ang goal ko naman is every fight, ibang Joshua Pacio naman, get better at least one-percent every day,” added Pacio.
Pacio continues to train hard every day and is expecting to have a trilogy fight against one of his main rivals in the division, Japanese Yosuke Saruta.
