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Joshua “The Passion” Pacio , who hails from Baguio City, Philippines, captured the ONE Strawweight World Championship with a unanimous decision victory over former titleholder Yoshitaka Naito at ONE: CONQUEST OF HEROES last September. It was an epic rematch between the two warriors, as Pacio put together the performance of a lifetime to claim the prestigious title. The 22-year-old Filipino has shown tremendous improvement over the past few years leading up to his title reign. With the ONE Strawweight World Championship firmly in his grasp, he looks to make a successful first defense at ONE’s first event of 2019. Standing in his way is Japan’s  Yosuke Saruta , a Shooto Strawweight World Champion who signed with ONE Championship after defeating several of the best athletes Shooto and Pancrase had to offer. Saruta has had one goal since he joined the world’s largest martial arts organization, and that is to become the ONE Strawweight World Champion. If he can defeat Pacio, he will ...

Filipino superstar Eduard Folayang took home the Martial Arts Hero of the Year award. Folayang is the former ONE Lightweight World Champion and has long been considered the face of Philippine mixed martial arts. He bagged a pair of victories in 2018 against previously unbeaten Russian adversaries Kharun Atlangeriev and Aziz Pahrudinov. The 34-year-old native of Baguio City, Philippines is scheduled to face Singaporean sensation Amir Khan in the main event of ONE: CONQUEST OF CHAMPIONS on 23 November for the vacant ONE Lightweight World Championship. ONE Middleweight and Light Heavyweight World Champion “The Burmese Python” Aung La N Sang copped Male Athlete of the Year honors. Aung La N Sang is a superstar in Myanmar, and has a massive following unlike any other in his home country of Myanmar. Aung La N Sang scored three exhilarating knockouts in 2018, including a sensational one-punch finish of Ken Hasegawa last June. Reigning ONE Women’s Atomweight World Champion “Unstoppa...

Hard-hitting Filipino dynamo Kevin “The Silencer” Belingon is in deep training for his second encounter against reigning ONE Bantamweight World Champion Bibiano “The Flash” Fernandes. Both men are set to collide in the co-main event of ONE: HEART OF THE LION, which takes place at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on 9 November. The 30-year-old Baguio City resident fell short in his first attempt to snatch Fernandes' world title in January 2016 after he was submitted in the opening round with a wrenching Kimura lock. Belingon worked his way back to the top since that fateful night as he is currently riding a six-bout winning streak against top-tier competition. In his most recent outing, Belingon defeated two-division champion Martin “The Situ-Asian” Nguyen to capture the ONE Interim Bantamweight Title. Unlike Nguyen, however, Fernandes is considered a much more dangerous foe on the ground, making the entire of Team Lakay work together to improve Belingon's grappling ...

It took two tries, but finally, Filipino strawweight star Joshua “The Passion” Pacio is now the ONE Strawweight World Champion. The 22-year old Team Lakay stalwart used his superior striking and much-improved grappling defense to outpoint erstwhile champion Yoshitaka “Nobita” Naito of Japan by unanimous decision in the main event of ONE: CONQUEST OF HEROES at the Jakarta Convention Center in Jakarta, Indonesia last 22 September. It was the perfect sequel to their 2016 encounter, as Pacio and Naito brought out the best in each other for an action-packed five round affair. At the end, it was Pacio who left with his hand raised and the world title on his shoulder after earning the victory on all three of the judges’ scorecards. “Yoshitaka Naito is a very patient inside the cage,” Pacio said after 25-minute bout. “Plus, he can absorb some hard shots without slowing down. He’s really hard to go against because he keeps moving forward, no matter what you throw at him.” And while...

China has a deep and rich history when it comes to martial arts. Over centuries, the Chinese have developed hundreds of styles of combat that fall under more the popular disciplines of Wushu and Kung Fu.  On a mainstream standpoint, Chinese stars like Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li have all become popular all over the world after brining their martial arts skills onto the silver screen.  These have made China one of the Asian countries synonymous to martial arts. Recently, China has also made gigantic strides in the world of mixed martial arts.  Earlier this year, the first mixed martial arts world champion was crowned, with “The Panda” Xiong Jing Nan capturing the inaugural ONE Women’s Strawweight World Championship in clinical and dismantling fashion against previously-undefeated Singaporean Tiffany Teo back in January.  Already with two successful title defenses this year, including a dominant knockout win over Brazilian champion Samara “Ma...

From fearless strikers to elite submission grapplers, Japan has provided the forever-expanding world of mixed martial arts with a long list of extraordinary athletes with the likes of Caol Uno, Hayato Sakurai, Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto, Takanori “Fireball Kid” Gomi and Kazushi Sakuraba. Knowing the relevance of Japanese combatants in the sport, ONE Championship houses the best and brightest competitors from “The Land of the Rising Sun” as they form an integral part of the roster, with exciting prizefighters such as Koji Ando and Kotetsu Boku, as well as the legendary Shinya Aoki and ONE Strawweight World Champion Yoshitaka Naito. Other Japanese members of the ONE Championship locker room are Mei Yamaguchi, Hayato Suzuki, Riku Shibuya, Tetsuya Yamada, Yuki Kondo, Kazunori Yokota, Nobutatsu Suzuki and Masakazu Imanari. In preparation for its first venture into Japan in the first quarter of 2019, ONE Championship has bolstered its promising pool of world-class talents with the a...

Since its debut back in April, ONE Super Series has become widely successful, providing fans the most exciting martial arts action from some of the world’s premier martial artists. Bannered by Muay Thai and kickboxing icons such as Giorgio Petrosyan, Nong-O Gaiyanghadao and reigning ONE Kickboxing Atomweight World Champion Kai Ting Chuang just to name a few, ONE Championship has done a masterful job of bringing in the cream of the crop from the combat sports world. As the highly-acclaimed ONE Super Series continues to grow in terms of popularity, more and more world class talent is set to come in. At ONE: BEYOND THE HORIZON on Saturday, 8 September in Shanghai, China, three more elite martial artists are set to make their promotional debut. At 25 years of age, Hakim Hamech is still relatively young, but he already has a wealth of experience in Muay Thai and kickboxing. The native of Lyon, France is a former two-time world champion in Muay Thai and possesses an impressive 4...

Reigning ONE Strawweight World Champion Yoshitaka “Nobita” Naito is one of the most successful martial artists to ever emerge from Japan. In just four short years since debuting in 2012, Naito conquered the notoriously competitive Japanese martial arts scene, capturing the Shooto Flyweight Title. Since making his ONE Championship debut in 2016, Naito has captured the ONE Strawweight World Championship on two occasions, defeating former champions Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke and Alex Silva. Naito is now set to defend his title against former opponent Joshua Pacio in an epic rematch. Former ONE World Title challenger Joshua “The Passion” Pacio of Baguio City, Philippines was inspired to take up martial arts ever since he was 12 years old. After an undefeated amateur career, Pacio soon made his professional debut, where he went 6-0 before making it to the global stage of ONE Championship. In 2016, he got his chance against reigning ONE Strawweight World Champion Yoshitaka “Nobita” N...