Yosuke Saruta stuns Joshua Pacio in Jakarta

MANILA - Japanese MMA veteran Yosuke Saruta is the new ONE strawweight world champion following a split decision nod over Joshua Pacio in the main event of "ONE: Eternal Glory" Saturday night at Istora Senayan in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Pacio was off to a quick start after he landed a head kick only to get taken down by Saruta. The Filipino crawled his way back to his feet, then opted to throw leg kicks at Saruta.

Saruta was the more aggressive fighter in round two, but Pacio was able to land clean counter shots with his hands and feet. Pacio went for a guillotine choke the following round, but chose to let loose and strike.

As Pacio went to touch gloves, Saruta went for a takedown in the opening seconds of round four. Saruta mostly went for takedowns, but never came close to securing a submission nor was able to do damage.

Pacio, on the other hand, circled around the cage and carefully picked his counter shots that mostly landed cleanly on his foe.

After five five-minute rounds, Saruta had his hand raised by split decision. He improved his record to 19-8-3 while Pacio fell 13-3. — DVM, GMA News