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MMA: After breaking Team Lakay 'curse,' Pacio eyes another trilogy bout

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Camille B. Naredo, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Joshua Pacio is declared the winner of his trilogy bout against Yosuke Saruta. Photo courtesy of ONE Championship." src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2021/sports/09/24/20210927_joshua.jpg"/><figcaption>Joshua Pacio is declared the winner of his trilogy bout against Yosuke Saruta. <em>Photo courtesy of ONE Championship.</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>Joshua Pacio smashed any notion of a trilogy bout &quot;curse&quot; for Team Lakay on Friday, when he emphatically ended his rivalry with Yosuke Saruta to retain his ONE strawweight belt.</p><p>In what was his third bout against his Japanese rival, Pacio won via technical knockout in the first round when he caught Saruta&#x27;s kick and landed a right hand that clearly dazed his opponent. Pacio pounced on the wobbly Saruta, landing several flush left hands that forced the referee to put a stop to the contest.</p><p>&quot;I just want to prove that a lot of people are saying that trilogy fights are a curse to Team Lakay. I don&#x27;t believe that. I broke that saying tonight,&quot; Pacio declared after his successful title defense.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/09/24/21/mma-josua-pacio-destroys-yosuke-saruta-in-3rd-fight">FIGHT RECAP: JosHua Pacio destroys Yosuke Saruta in trilogy fight</a></li></ul><p>Before Pacio&#x27;s dominance of Saruta, <a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/09/17/21/joshua-pacio-says-hes-out-to-break-team-lakay-curse">Team Lakay fighters</a> have struggled in trilogy fights: Eduard Folayang lost to rival Shinya Aoki in April, Geje Eustaquio was outpointed by Adriana Moraes in January 2019, and Kevin Belingon was disqualified in his third fight against Bibiano Fernandes in March 2019.</p><p>But having broken the so-called &quot;curse,&quot; Pacio is already eyeing another trilogy bout.</p><p>&quot;I want to do it again if possible, a trilogy with (Yoshitaka) Naito,&quot; he said.</p><p>Japan&#x27;s Naito is currently the No. 2 contender in the strawweight division, and he also has plenty of history with Pacio. They faced off for the first time in October 2016, when Pacio was just 20 years old. He gave a good account of himself, but lost via submission in the third round.</p><p>The Filipino got his revenge two years later, when he outpointed Naito in September 2018 to become the new ONE strawweight champion. </p><p>&quot;He (Naito) is the No. 2 contender in my division. So, he deserves it,&quot; Pacio said. &quot;If not, maybe Naito and Bokang (Masunyane) will fight and whoever wins gets that title shot.&quot;</p><p>Pacio, who improved to 20-3 in his MMA career with his win over Saruta, was thrilled to have decisively won his rivalry against the Japanese fighter.</p><p>Saruta controversially defeated him in their first match in January 2019, but Pacio got his revenge four months later, knocking out Saruta to regain the strawweight title. At ONE: Revolution on Friday, he proved that stoppage was no fluke with an even more impressive triumph.</p><p>&quot;(It&#x27;s) very, very satisfying. I&#x27;m very, very happy for the result, to get the big win, and close the chapter between me and Saruta,&quot; he said.</p><p>&quot;But we never know. We may cross paths again in the future,&quot; he added.</p><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO:</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LAciq5Lcjbk?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>

Joshua Pacio smashed any notion of a trilogy bout 'curse' for Team Lakay when he emphatically ended his rivalry with Yosuke Saruta.

MMA: After breaking Team Lakay 'curse,' Pacio eyes another trilogy bout

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MMA: After breaking Team Lakay 'curse,' Pacio eyes another trilogy bout

Camille B. Naredo,

ABS-CBN News

Published September 27, 2021 01:11 PM PHT

Read More:

mixed martial arts

MMA

ONE Championship

Team Lakay

Joshua Pacio

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