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As 2023 comes to a close, Joshua Pacio reflected on some of the big high-profile match-ups that took place throughout the year.
In the mind of the former ONE strawweight MMA world champion, one submission grappling match-up stands out above the rest as a clash of generations that no one expected to see.
ONE flyweight submission grappling world champion Mikey Musumeci moved away from his natural weight class for an openweight contest against Shinya Aoki.
The best in the world today met a pioneer and legend of the game at ONE Fight Night 15 in October where ‘Darth Rigatoni’ emerged victorious.
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Not only did Musumeci show that the student has now become the master, he submitted his opponent with the legend’s own signature move, the Aoki Lock, in front of a passionate audience inside the iconic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.
Joshua Pacio highlighted this match-up as a moment that stood out to him in 2023 during an interview with ONE Championship:
“I think the Musumeci-Aoki fight stands out to me. It’s like mentor versus next-gen. And then Musumeci used the Aoki lock on him, that was a nice momentum.”
2023 was a big year for Joshua Pacio
Joshua Pacio came into 2023 with a lot to prove to his fans, himself, and the rest of the strawweight division.
Losing his strawweight world championship to Jarred Brooks in December, 2022, Pacio once again returned to the role of contender.
There will have been fellow strawweight rivals looking at ‘The Passion’ thinking that now is their time to overlap him in the rankings and take the top contender spot for themselves following his convincing loss to Brooks.
At ONE Fight Night 15, he proved that he isn’t going anywhere by taking out the most exciting contender to emerge in the division, Mansur Malachiev.
With a rematch for the title set for ONE 166 in Qatar on March 1, Pacio will now look to get revenge on Brooks and once again reclaim the strawweight gold that his career goes hand-in-hand with.
