MACAU has a special place in the heart of Filipino mixed martial arts fighter Joshua “The Passion” Pacio after being part of history when Asia’s largest sports media property ONE Championship debuted in the special administrative region of the People’s Republic of China last year. And now that he is set to fight back there, he said he is very much excited and looking forward to performing well anew.
Part of the under card for “ONE: Kings & Conquerors” happening at the Cotai Arena in The Venetian Macao on Aug. 5, Baguio City, Benguet native Pacio will take on Japanese newcomer Hayato Suzuki.
Mr. Pacio will be one of three Filipinos seeing action in the latest ONE Championship live event, along with veteran Eric “The Natural” Kelly and women’s atomweight fighter Jomary Torres.
The Macau event will be headlined by the title fight between ONE bantamweight champion Bibiano “The Flash” Fernandes of Brazil and challenger Andrew Leone of the United States.
Serving as co-main event is the clash between Kairat Akhmetov of Kazakhstan and Adriano Moraes of Brazil for the undisputed ONE flyweight world championship title.
Now returning to Macau where he had a winning outing last time around over Thai grappler Kritsada Kongsrichai by way of a first-round submission, 23-year-old Pacio said that he is going to do all he can to give fight fans a good performance in a place which he considers very conducive to fight in.
“I love fighting in Macau. The venue is so awesome. It’s truly world-class. Furthermore, there are a lot of Filipinos living and working there. Whenever I compete there, it feels like I am fighting back home. The energy is palpable. I can’t wait to be back,” he said in the run-up to the event.
Zeroing in on his fight, Team Lakay stalwart Pacio (9-1) said he is expecting a tough engagement against Mr. Suzuki (16-0-2), who may be debuting in ONE against Mr. Pacio but is already a veteran of many fights.
“It’s going to be an action-packed fight. I can’t be complacent. Moreover, I have to be two steps or three steps ahead of him,” Mr. Pacio said of his scheduled three-round strawweight fight versus Mr. Suzuki, who has won 13 straight.
“He’s never been knocked out. He’s never been submitted. He’s undefeated. This is MMA. Anything can happen. My skills versus his skills will be incredible. This will be one of the fights that will be remembered because he will showcase his skills and I will showcase mine, so you have to watch it,” Mr. Pacio said.
He went on to share that he is not taking any chances and training hard for the fight, believing that only through that can he build on an already-promising career, that has seen him get a title shot last year only to fall short to reigning champion Yoshitaka Naito.
“There is always a room for improvement. Although I won against Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke last March, there is still an urgency to improve my skills and arsenal further after the fight. This time, we enhanced timing and precision. We added speed as well as proper executions of game plan,” he said.
“I am willing to wait for the right time to get another title shot. Timing is everything. Every moment has its own purpose. I don’t race to be in line for that belt, but I’m racing to perfection in this sport which I hope to use when the title opportunity comes along again,” Mr. Pacio added.