Joshua Pacio defends his ONE strawweight title anew

Joshua Pacio wins his title defense anew. INQUIRER PHOTO/TRISTAN TAMAYO

MANILA, Philippines—Joshua Pacio laid claim to becoming the greatest strawweight in promotion history after he defended his World title against former champion Alex Silva via split decision in the main event of ONE: Fire and Fury Friday at Mall of Asia Arena.

A known striker, Pacio was adamant to let the match play out standing up and not allowing Silva to get any momentum on the ground.

Pacio (17-3) knocked Silva down three times in the first round but did not engage Silva (9-5) on the ground.

This continued for most of the fight with Pacio continuously landing the stiffer strikes and beginning each subsequent round with a flying knee to the chin of Silva.

This was Pacio’a third straight win but he said that his performance against Silva wasn’t the best of his abilities.

“It’s hard because I just fought two months ago and this was what my team and I worked on and that was our ground game,” said Pacio. “For me, I’m not really impressed with my performance.”

“I need to work on my combinations and of course my grappling skills.”

Pacio even tried to lock Silva in the arm triangle choke but the Brazilian quickly escaped the grasp in the second round.

Pacio has now defeated strawweight powerhouses in the promotion that includes former champions Yoshitaka Naito and Yosuke Saruta and also victories over tough challengers Rene Catalan and Pongsiri Mitsatit.