Joshua Pacio: From Childhood Obesity to ONE Championship Title Challenger | MMAWeekly.com

When Joshua Pacio was a child, you would have got long odds on him ever becoming a world champion. At the age of nine, the Baguio native was nearly 65 kilograms (143 pounds) and so overweight he could barely see his feet.

This Friday night (local time), Pacio will challenge for the title in ONE Championship’s lightest men’s division. His reward for back-to-back stoppage wins with the promotion is a shot at reigning strawweight champion Yoshiyaka Naito in Yangon.

Pacio will be the underdog, but the 20-year-old is used to overcoming adversity in order to achieve his dreams.

“Before I found martial arts, the truth is, I was very fat. When I stood up, I could barely see my feet because my stomach was so big. Martial arts changed my life in attitude, in health, and in discipline.”

Pacio will become the fourth Team Lakay fighter to challenge for a ONE Championship title. Honorio Banario was successful, but Geje Eustaquio and Kevin Belingon have both come up short, while Eduard Folayang will finally get his long-awaited shot in November.

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Pacio is the proud owner of an 8-0 record, but is several years younger than most of his training partners and actually grew up watching them fight.

“When I watched Honorio Banario fight in Manila, I was amazed by his performance and that’s the time I fell in love with MMA. For me, it’s a pleasure to train and a privilege to train with them because in the past years it was just a dream.”

Team Lakay has won 15 fights on the trot and while the more experienced fighters like Folayang, Banario, and Eustaquio have contributed to this streak, there have also been ONE Championship victories for several up-and-comers in their early twenties like Danny Kingad, April Osenio, and Pacio.

This new breed of fighters can benefit from the experience of their more seasoned training partners. Team Lakay has experienced a few setbacks over the years, notably going 0-5 at the first ever ONE Championship event in Manila, but Pacio believes it has served to make them collectively stronger.

“Team Lakay is very special because in the past years we failed a lot, but we just think positively. We train hard and those losses will serve as a lesson to us. We don’t just take it negatively. We train in what our weaknesses are.”

The team was founded by Mark Sangiao, who holds a 7-2 record, but has long since retired to focus on coaching commitments. He’s been the Team Lakay head coach since its inception and is a constant source of inspiration to young fighters like Pacio.

“Coach Mark is like a father to me because he taught me to manage my time very well. He taught me about having the right attitude, to be humble. He’s always there whenever I have a problem. Without him, I may not be where I am right now.”

Pacio earned his title shot on the back of a stoppage win over Kritsada Kongsrichai in Macau. He snapped the Thai wrestler’s three-fight winning streak with a rear-naked choke and cites this is a key moment in his learning curve.

“The Macau fight was one of my greatest challenges for me. The lesson I learned there is to be patient. I just waited for him to make a mistake and I capitalized on that mistake and I won.”

Naito is widely ranked as the top strawweight in the world. He’s an out and out grappler who has never tasted defeat, but Pacio thinks that the lessons he learned from his last fight will stand him in good stead at ONE: State of Warriors.

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“I think my weaknesses are in wrestling defense because in my last fight I was taken down many times by Kritsada. After that fight, I immediately went back to the gym and trained. I would not call it weakness, but a lesson. I will review and make my weaknesses stronger.”

Naito has been a professional for less than three years, but will be going up against an undefeated opponent, who dominated Shooto before signing with ONE Championship. It’s a tall task and if Pacio were to become only the second Team Lakay fighter to win a belt with Asia’s biggest MMA promotion, it would register as a major surprise.

However, no one could have imagined the overweight 10-year-old would go on to become one of the country’s best fighting prospects and Pacio is determined to win the belt for his country and his team.

“Bringing that gold strap here in the Philippines and to my family would make me happy because I know I would make them proud and the Filipino people. If I get that belt all the years of hard work and training will be paid off. It’s not only my dream, but it’s my team’s dream.”