Joshua Pacio To Defend Title At ONE: Fire And Fury

ONE Championship is set to return to the Philippines on Friday, January 31st for ONE: Fire And Fury. In the main event, the reigning ONE strawweight champion Joshua Pacio of the Philippines, will defend his title against former champion, Alex Silva of Brazil.

Pacio, who hails from Baguio City, captured the strawweight belt with a unanimous decision victory over Japanese veteran Yoshitaka Naito in September of 2018 but surrendered the title to another Japanese warrior in Shooto world champion Yosuke Saruta in his first title defence. However, a few months later, Pacio avenged the defeat by knocking Saruta out with a head kick, to regain the title.

Last November, the 23 year old Pacio successfully defended his belt against his fellow Filipino Rene Catalan at ONE: Masters Of Fate, winning by way of a second round arm triangle.

Former ONE strawweight champion Silva, has earned his way back to title contention by scoring two submission victories over Stefer Rahardian and Peng Xue Wen. The Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt is one of the most dangerous grapplers in ONE Championship. All but one of his nine victories have come via submission.

ONE: Fire And Fury

Also competing at ONE: Fire and Fury will be several of Pacio’s Team Lakay teammates and fellow Filipinos.

Former ONE Lightweight World Champion Eduard Folayang will go up against Pakistan’s Ahmed Mujtaba. Folayang is one of the most prominent martial artists in his country, a massive sports icon loved by his people. Behind his world class wushu skills, Folayang is on the comeback trail and believes he can make another run at the ONE lightweight title.

Former ONE world title challenger Danny Kingad is set to face China’s Xie Wei. Since challenging Adriano Moraes for the title in 2017, Kingad has won six out of his last seven bouts, with his only loss coming to Demetrious Johnson in the ONE Flyweight World Grand Prix. Now Kingad starts his climb back to title contention against Xie, who earned his start on Rich Franklin’s ONE Warrior Series.

Lito Adiwang of the Philippines looks to continue his rise through the ranks when he faces Thailand’s Pongsiri Mitsatit.

Adiwang began his career in ONE Championship via ONE Warrior Series, where he railed off three impressive victories to earn his spot on the full ONE roster. “Thunder Kid” made a successful ONE Championship debut at ONE: Century, when he finished the highly regarded Senzo Ikeda in the very first round.

Mitsatit has eight knockouts from his ten wins and promises to bring the action right to Adiwang in this exciting strawweight clash.

Making her much-anticipated return to the ONE Circle is Team Lakay’s Gina Iniong, who takes on India’s Asha Roka.

Iniong hasn’t competed in the ONE Circle since February, where she defeated Malaysia’s Jihin Radzuan. Iniong has just won a gold medal at the 30th Southeast Asian Games in Manila, in the women’s 55kg kick light category. Roka made her ONE debut in August, taking on two sport World Champion Stamp Fairtex.

Philippines’ Jomary Torres will be looking to get back to winning ways, when she comes up against former ONE world title challenger Jenny Huang, of Chinese Taipei.

ONE: Fire And Fury:

ONE Strawweight World Championship

Joshua Pacio (C) vs Alex Silva
Mixed Martial Arts: 56.7kg

Eduard Folayang vs Ahmed Mujtaba
Mixed Martial Arts: 77.1kg

Danny Kingad vs Xie Wei
Mixed Martial Arts: 61.2kg

Petchdam PetchyindeeAcademy vs Momotaro
Muay Thai: 61.2kg

Kwon Won Il vs Shoko Sato
Mixed Martial Arts: 65.8kg

Alma Juniku vs Anne Line Hogstad
Muay Thai: 52.2kg

Lito Adiwang vs Pongsiri Mitsatit
Mixed Martial Arts: 56.7kg

Gina Iniong vs Asha Roka
Mixed Martial Arts: 52.2kg

Rodlek PK.Saenchaimuaythaigym vs Chris Shaw
Muay Thai: 65.8kg

Jomary Torres vs Jenny Huang
Mixed Martial Arts: 52.2kg


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