It’s on!
ONE Championship has announced that Joshua Pacio will put his Strawweight World Championship on the line against Rene Catalan.
The all-Filipino showdown serves as the main event of ONE: Masters of Fate which takes place on Friday, November 8, at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Pacio captured the strawweight belt with a unanimous decision victory over Japanese veteran Yoshitaka Naito in September of 2018. Unfortunately, he then surrendered the title in his first defense to another Japanese warrior, former Shooto champion Yosuke Saruta.
Months later, though, Pacio avenged that defeat by knocking Saruta out with a head kick to regain ONE Championship gold.
Now, Pacio is looking to make the first defense of his second strawweight title reign against Catalan.
Catalan, on the other hand, is currently the hottest strawweight in the division who is riding an impressive six-bout win streak.
The Philippine Wushu Champion and veteran martial artist stopped former champion Naito in the first round of his most recent outing, earning him a shot at the ONE Strawweight World Championship.
Also in the card are Pacio’s Team Lakay teammates Eduard Folayang and Geje Eustaquio.
Former two-time ONE Lightweight World Champion Folayang of the Philippines is on the comeback trail. He is scheduled to face MGL-1 FC Lightweight Champion Amarsanaa “Spear” Tsogookhuu of Mongolia in the evening’s co-main event.
The veteran member of Team Lakay will have to deal with Tsogookhuu’s uncharted power, though, as the Mongolian boasts of a solid knockout ratio featuring three stoppages out of five victories.
Meanwhile, former ONE Flyweight World Champion Geje “Gravity” Eustaquio of the Philippines and CWFC Bantamweight World Champion Toni “Dynamite” Tauru of Finland will run it back in a highly-anticipated rematch.
In their first encounter back in 2016, Tauru submitted Eustaquio via first round rear-naked choke. Since then, Eustaquio has gone on to capture the flyweight belt twice. Now, he faces Tauru once again this time at flyweight.
Two-sport world champion Stamp Fairtex continues her ascent in the mixed martial arts world as she takes on Bi “Killer Bee” Nguyen in another blockbuster announcement.
Also in the card are a muay thai bout between Alma Juniku and Anne Line Hogstad; an MMA match pitting Yoshitaka Naito and Pongsiri Mitsatit; a muay thai showdown between Han Zi Hao and Kongsak PK.Saenchaimuaythaigym; a featherweight encounter between Jae Hwong Kim and Emilio Urrutia; and a muay thai bout between Tukkatatong Petpayathai and Hiroaki Suzuki.
Opening the stacked card are clashes between Roshan Mainam versus Khon Sichan; and Kim Kyu Sung versus Akihiro Fujisawa.
