Joshua Pacio eager to showcase his improved grappling skills in 2022

ONE Championship Strawweight champion Joshua Pacio had a solid outing in 2021. The Team Lakay star had a successful title defense against Yosuke Saruta in the year and that too, via an impressive first-round TKO stoppage.

With 2021 in the books, Pacio is looking forward to a strong 2022. The Filipino MMA star is looking to showcase his improved grappling skills in the new year.

"What I wanted to show was my well-roundedness – that I can also go for takedowns and submissions against a very tough opponent like Saruta. But in that fight, you can see that I was just defending the takedowns and then attempting to get back up when I got taken down.  We’ve been working on it since the [COVID-19] pandemic [began]. We’ve been working on the confidence in the execution, especially against good grapplers. I can’t always say, ‘Oh, I’m facing a good grappler. I have to work on my defense.’ Defense, defense, is it all that it is for me?" Pacio said (h/t Spin.ph).

ALSO READ | Kwon Won II feels that Team Lakay star Stephen Loman is overhyped

He further went on to add that he will be trying to showcase more attacks on the ground in his upcoming fights.

"I also want to show that I can go for takedowns, I can control the fight with my grappling, and I can throw out submission attempts. I think those are the next few things that I will show in my next few fights,” Pacio added.

Interestingly, 9 out of Pacio’s 19 wins have come via submission meaning that he won almost 50% of his fights through his grappling skills. 7 have come via KO or TKO when three wins in Pacio’s career came via decisions.

ALSO READ | Kevin Belingon will come back strong, says Stephen Loman

What do you think will be next for Joshua Pacio? Let us know in the comment section of the article below.

---

You can download the LockerRoom India mobile app available on the Google Playstore and the App Store for all the latest news and updates from the Combat Sports World

LEAVE A COMMENT

Please login to leave a comment

0 Comments