Pacio avenges defeat to Naito; becomes new One strawweight champ

Naito struggled in finding an opportunity to take Pacio down early on, as the latter’s improved takedown defense kept the former at bay. (File Photo: Joshua Pacio/Facebook)

MANILA — Joshua Pacio got back at his tormentor Yoshitaka Naito to become the new One strawweight champion in the main event of One: Conquest of Heroes at the Jakarta Convention Center in Jakarta, Indonesia early Sunday (Philippine Time).

In their highly-anticipated rematch, Pacio’s strikes got the better of Naito’s ground game this time as the Baguio native won via unanimous decision.

Naito struggled in finding an opportunity to take Pacio down early on, as the latter’s improved takedown defense kept the former at bay.

Naito eventually sent the game to the ground in Round 5, but the last-minute ditch came a bit too late as Pacio avenged the only loss of his career to Naito.

Pacio’s victory has put Team Lakay 2-0 up in the fight card, as Danny Kingad defeated newcomer Yuya Wakamatsu earlier in the card.

Kingad recovered from an ugly start as his ground game proved pivotal against Wakamatsu en route to a unanimous decision win.

Meanwhile, Jomary Torres incurred her first loss in her career after bowing to Prescilla Gaol.

With the raucous Indonesian crowd cheering for her, Gaol stood tall with her stand-up game as she averted Torres’ takedown attempts in the middle rounds to score a unanimous decision win.