Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Tiebreaker Times

Mixed Martial Arts

All Roads Lead To Pacio: Fujisawa, Mitsatit start journey back to contention


After beating almost everyone in his weight class, reigning ONE Strawweight World Champion Joshua “The Passion” Pacio doesn’t have a challenger in mind.

On August 14, all of that could change.

At ONE: No Surrender II, Akihiro “Superjap” Fujisawa battles Pongsiri “The Smiling Assassin” Mitsatit in a strawweight mixed martial arts matchup in Bangkok, Thailand, and the winner may put himself in a good position to challenge Pacio in the future.

Both men have experienced setbacks in 2019, but they can prove their worthiness with a convincing performance this Friday.

“It was simply a frustrating experience,” Fujisawa told ONEFC.com when asked about his struggles in the Circle.

“After all, it’s a contact sport. Sometimes we have a good time, and sometimes we have a bad one, and I had a bad one last year. It’s no use crying over what has happened already, and I learned a lot from it. To look back, I think the year 2019 was a year of learning.”

Like Fujisawa, Mitsatit has been on a slide as of late and knows the importance of this bout in relation to his career.

“This win is really important to me because it will help me climb the ladder to a championship,” Mitsatit said.

After being submitted by the fifth-ranked Lito “Thunder Kid” Adiwang in January, the 24-year-old Muay Thai specialist went back to the drawing board to deepen his skills, and when he recently got the call to face with Fujisawa, “The Smiling Assassin” worked twice as hard.

“I prepared for this fight around a month ago with my coach George Hickman at Tiger Muay Thai,” he said.

“I concentrated on attacking and defending by training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, wrestling, and also Muay Thai. I tried hard to develop my ground game together with my striking to make both stronger, especially my knee strikes and flying knees.”

But “Superjap” won’t allow Mitsatit to rain down on his comeback parade as he plans not only to win this for himself, but for everyone affected by the recent COVID-19 pandemic.

#ReadMore  Loaded Lady Blazers dominate Lady Knights for maiden win

“I want to win in an impressive way so that I can carry on my journey to cheer up the world,” Fujisawa said.

“In Thailand, many people are stressed out due to the pandemic, including Japanese residents. I want to cheer those people up.”

ONE Championship returns to action with ONE: NO SURRENDER II on August 14 and ONE: NO SURRENDER III on August 21 as The Home Of Martial Arts rolls out its series of live events in the new normal.  

Watch the event live on One Sports or One Sports+ at 8:30 p.m. Philippine Standard Time (PHT). Also, TV5 will air the event on a next-day delay at 11 p.m. PHT.

Read More From ONE Championship

5 Reasons Why You Can’t Miss ONE: NO SURRENDER II

Who Ya Got? Previewing The ONE Bantamweight Muay Thai Tournament

ONE Bantamweight Muay Thai Tournament | Official Trailer

Written By


You May Also Like

Kickboxing

The world’s best strikers will once again converge in ONE Championship when the promotion airs previously recorded ONE: A New Breed II on Friday,...

Muay Thai

Fifth-ranked ONE Championship strawweight Lito “Thunder Kid” Adiwang is one of the most-traveled athletes from the Philippines. Before settling down with Team Lakay, Adiwang’s...

Muay Thai

There may not be any Filipinos competing this Friday, August 21, at ONE: No Surrender III, but some of the country’s biggest stars are...

Muay Thai

“The Million Dollar Baby” Sangmanee Klong SuanPluResort plans to put on an exciting yet cautious performance when he enters the ONE Championship ring this...

Muay Thai

There is a reason why Kulabdam Sor. Jor. Piek Uthai owns the nickname “Left Meteorite,” and he plans to show why in the semifinals...

Muay Thai

“The Million Dollar Baby” Sangmanee Klong SuanPluResort and “Left Meteorite” Kulabdam Sor. Jor. Piek Uthai will leave it all on the floor in their...

Mixed Martial Arts

Saemapetch Fairtex promised things would be different when he met Rodlek PK.Saenchai Muaythaigym inside the ring for the fourth time – and he lived...

Muay Thai

Saemapetch Fairtex had the chance to become the ONE Bantamweight Muay Thai World Champion late last year when he faced his idol and reigning...

Advertisement