Pacio chokes out Catalan to retain ONE FC Strawweight title

By: Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

Joshua Pacio of Team Lakay successfully defended his ONE Fighting Championship Strawweight title after setting up a wonderful clinch to execute a perfect ground choke on Ilonggo wushu world champion Rene Catalan on Friday.

As soon as the bell rang in the opening round, a solid spinning back kick from Pacio hooked Catalan, forcing the latter to backpedal and touch his pained mid-section twice.

Pacio then took down Catalan and started to grab the latter’s leg but the latter put up a decent defense that led to a ground brawl.

The sprawling and jockeying for advantage position went for two minutes, with both fighters not holding back and giving up on their leg locks.

It was broken after Pacio attempted to ground and pound Catalan with brutal knees and hammer fists, but the veteran Ilonggo held his composure and parried the attacks pretty well.

The first round was all Pacio and Catalan was expected to bounce back but Pacio was consistently hurting the native of Sta. Barbara, Iloilo.

In the fourth minute mark, Catalan found himself in a deep trouble when he absorbed kick while attempting a takedown move against Pacio.

Catalan was hurt by Pacio’s kick that led him underneath the latter.

Pacio then sprawled and gained the perfect position to choke Catalan out and successfully defended his title.