MMA

Joshua Pacio now open to fighting Team Lakay athletes, except for these fighters

Former ONE strawweight world champion Joshua Pacio is now willing to entertain prospective fights with Team Lakay fighters moving forward after he announced his departure from the stable.

Pacio, 20-4 as a professional mixed martial artist, shocked the local sporting world when he announced his exit from Team Lakay together with fellow former world champions Eduard Folayang, Kevin Belingon, and Honorio Banario earlier this month.

The 27-year-old had always been against this in the past, saying it is a big no for members of the team to fight each other. Now that he has left, Pacio says he would fight up-and-comers, but not his ex-teammates Lito Adiwang and Danny Kingad.

“The relationship I built with Lito [Adiwang] is close, he is like a brother. So no, I will not fight him. Danny [Kingad] will watch this video and he will laugh. We will both say no to each other,” Pacio said in an interview on Sparring Sessions.

“I am open to fighting [up and coming fighters]. But I think after a year or two my body would not be able to cut to strawweight. That is one of the aspects I am looking at. I might move up a division.”

Pacio last saw action in December when he yielded his then world title to ex-UFC fighter Jarred Brooks by way of unanimous decision. He is set to fly to the USA next month to train in various MMA gyms including Jackson Wink MMA in New Mexico.

—JMB, GMA Integrated News