One Championship will take to the Philippines in January with the 125-pound belt up for grabs.
The promotion released the lineup via press release on Thursday for the event titled “Fire & Fury.” The card will take place on Jan. 31 at the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila, Philippines. Competing for the strawweight (125-pound) strap will be champ Joshua Pacio (15-3) against Alex Silva (9-4). The event will also feature at least three Muay Thai bouts along with this title fight.
Pacio won his belt back against Yosuke Saruta in April when he knocked out his Japanese foe with a head kick in the fourth frame. He has since defended that title against Rene Catalan in November, tapping “D’Challenger” with an arm-triangle choke in Round 2. For “The Passion,” 13 of his 15 career victories have come by stoppage, and he displayed his unusual submission prowess with a first-of-its-kind hammerlock submission of Pongsiri Mitsatit in 2018 with the promotion.
Silva has rattled off two straight second-round armbars over Stefer Rahardian and Xuewen Peng in August and November, respectively. This submission stretch broke up a three-fight skid where he dropped a decision to Saruta, bookended by decision defeats to Yoshitaka Naito. Eight of the Brazilian’s nine wins throughout his career have come by tapout, and all but one of his fights dating back to 2011 have taken place under the One banner.
Also on the card is a 170-pound battle between former champ Eduard Folayang (22-8) and Ahmed Mujtaba (7-2), with Folayang coming off of a technical decision win against Tsogookhuu Amarsanaa in November after a headbutt from the latter ended the fight at 2:31 of the second stanza. “The Wolverine” has not recorded a win since November 2017, when his opponent Li Kai Wen was disqualified after landing punches to the back of Mujtaba’s head.
One Championship “Fire and Fury” Lineup:
Joshua Pacio vs. Alex Silva
Eduard Folayang vs. Ahmed Mujtaba
Danny Kingad vs. Wei Xie
MT: Petchdam PetchyindeeAcademy vs. Momotaro
Kwon Won Il vs. Shoko Sato
MT: Alma Juniku vs. Anne Line Hogstad
Lito Adiwang vs. Pongsiri Mitsatit
Gina Iniong vs. Asha Roka
MT: Rodlek PK.Saenchaimuaythaigym vs. Chris Shaw
Jomary Torres vs. Jenny Huang