“Hopefully, he’s totally healed” - Stephen Loman says Joshua Pacio may soon return to competition

Filipino MMA fighter Stephen Loman expects teammate and reigning ONE strawweight world champion Joshua Pacio to be back competing soon, highlighting how 'The Passion' is working hard to recover from a knee injury.

'The Sniper' touched on this in a recent interview with Sportskeeda MMA, sharing how Pacio is in deep rehab and seemingly gaining steady progress.

The 29-year-old Lions Nation MMA affiliate said:

"He's in rehab in Manaila, so every day he does these different exercises. I watch his videos regularly, he's been doing well, and there are so many exercises that he does every day. Hopefully, he's totally healed."

Pacio suffered an ACL injury even before he took on and reclaimed the ONE strawweight MMA world title from American Jarred Brooks back in March in Qatar. He still pushed through with the fight, which took an unexpected turn when 'The Monkey God' got disqualified and lost the belt for executing an illegal slam in the opening round.

Brooks, however, became the interim champion after he defeated earlier this month at ONE Fight Night 24 Cuban Gustavo Balart by submission in the first round. He is awaiting the return of Pacio to have the opportunity to unify the strawweight belts.

Stephen Loman, meanwhile, has not seen action since losing by decision in his virtual title eliminator against Brazilian John Lineker in September last year. But he has been working on his game, staying ready whenever he is called up to compete.

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Stephen Loman aiding teammate Danny Kingad in his return to action

Apart from Joshua Pacio, another teammate that Stephen Loman is keeping tabs on is Danny Kingad, who is set to make his return to competition in November in the United States.

'The King' will go up against former ONE flyweight MMA world champion Adriano Moraes of Brazil at ONE 169 in Atlanta, Georgia, on Nov. 8. It will be a rematch of their first encounter way back in 2017, where the Filipino fighter lost by way of submission in the first round.

In the same interview with Sportskeeda MMA, Stephen Loman shared how Kingad is shoring up his game, particularly on the ground, to match that of Moraes. He said they, too, at Lions Nation MMA, are doing their part to help him.

The bantamweight contender said:

"Right now, he's checking with his grappling because Adriano Moraes has a great BJJ game, so Danny's really working on his ground game, especially his back take. We're always drilling his back takes..."

ONE 169: Atlanta will be the second live on-ground event of the ONE Championship in the United States this year, following ONE 168 in Denver, Colorado, which will take place on Sept. 6.