Photo from ONE
While everyone else is out celebrating the holidays, you can find Joshua Pacio grinding it out in the gym.
With his first defense of the ONE Strawweight World strap coming up, the Team Lakay phenom is leaving no stones unturned including skipping the revelry to prepare for his bout against Yosuke Saruta in the main event of ONE: Eternal Glory on January 19.
“It’s the sacrifice that I have to do because it’s my first title defense,” said the 22-year-old Baguio native. “On Christmas Eve, I spent it with my family, but the day after, I was back in training.”
Pacio was originally scheduled to duke it out with Hayato Suzuki at ONE: Eternal Glory but the Japanese fighter suffered an injury forcing him to withdraw, paving way another Japanese competitor to step in.
The change in opponent, though, has not derailed Pacio’s preparations.
“As a martial artist, you need to adapt. It has already happened to me in the past, and I was able to adapt through it,” he said. “The game plan will be changed, but that’s okay. It’s better now because there are still weeks to prepare.”
With barely a month to go before the all-important bout, Pacio said he’s exactly where he wants to be in training.
“The training is going fine. Now it’s all about peaking at the right time in training,” he shared. “Regardless of my opponent, I will do my best to defend my title successfully.”