Jhanlo Sangiao believes Team Lakay will rise again and claim more world titles

It was a rough outing for Team Lakay at ONE on Prime Video 5 and ONE 164 this past weekend. The long-dominant fight team saw two of their biggest names fall by way of knockout while their last remaining ONE world champion, Joshua Pacio, lost the strawweight world championship to ‘The Monkey God’ Jarred Brooks.

Jhanlo Sangiao provided one of the bright spots for Team Lakay over the weekend, scoring a first-round submission victory over Anacleto Lauron at ONE 164. Following the event, Sangiao spoke at the ONE 164 post-fight media scrum about his team’s rough night:

“I know we don’t have belts anymore but it’s not the end. We are here, we are rising, we do our best to get [the belts] back, not only four, but more.”

If Jarred Brooks gets his wish, Joshua Pacio may very well get the opportunity to bring ONE Championship gold back to the Philippines. With ONE Championship headed to the United States for the first time, ‘The Monkey God’ will be looking to defend his newly won strawweight crown for the first time, and a rematch with Pacio is a likely scenario.

At the ONE 164 post-fight press conference, Brooks said:

"This isn’t the end with Joshua Pacio. We were just talking about it too. So, I would love to give him another chance in Denver in the United States. He can come to my home turf and we can see where it goes from there.”

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Jarred Brooks commends Team Lakay head coach Mark Sangiao for what his team has accomplished

While things haven’t been going Team Lakay’s way in recent years, the longstanding fight team has a history of dominating mixed martial arts, particularly in ONE Championship, where no less than five Team Lakay fighters have held gold in the global combat sports organization. The list of names includes ONE Championship icons Geje Eustaquio, Eduard Folayang, Kevin Belingon, Honorio Banario, and lastly, Joshua Pacio.

Speaking to the South China Morning Post in a ONE 164 post-fight interview, Jarred Brooks shared his respect for Team Lakay’s head coach Mark Sangiao and what his team has accomplished over the past decade:

“Much respect. I mean, I respect them and they have a hell of a fighter and a hell of a squad for the past 15 years. Mark Sangiao, he’s done a lot with his team.”