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Former ONE strawweight MMA world champion Joshua Pacio welcomes the development that ONE Championship is set to make a return to the Philippines next year. He said it is something that fight fans in the country are really looking forward to.
ONE was last in Manila in December 2022 for the double event ONE 164: Pacio vs Brooks and ONE on Prime Video 5: De Ridder vs Malykhin at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Pacio headlined ONE 164 where he put on the line his strawweight world title against American challenger Jarred Brooks. Unfortunately he went on to lose the title clash, defeated by unanimous decision.
After the twin Manila event, ONE did not hold any event in the Philippines in 2023, holding most of its shows at the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, and taking its events to new grounds like the United States.
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In an interview with onefc.com, Pacio said the planned return to the Philippines by ONE in 2024 is an exciting development that Filipino fight fans have long been waiting for, saying:
“I’m excited to hear that. Of course, I’m happy to hear that even though it’s still not to the usual four events that we used to have here, we’ll be back in the country. You know, each time I talk to people on the streets, they ask me, when’s the next ONE event here in the Philippines? They really want it here. You know it’s not only the fighters who are excited, everybody here is excited.”
As for Pacio, he is set to return to action on March 1, 2024 at ONE 166: Qatar, which will be the promotion’s first-ever event there. He will take on Brooks in a title rematch for the strawweight world title.
ONE Championship’s planned return to the Philippines part of its explosive 2024 offering
Apart from the Philippines, ONE Championship is also lining up packed cards in the United States, Qatar, Japan and Singapore as part of its explosive 2024 offering.
The South China Morning Post first reported on it, quoting ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong as saying:
“You’re going to see MMA back in full force. We have our US stadium shows, we have Qatar, Japan. In the Philippines we have one or two shows.”
ONE Championship is already confirmed to make a return to Japan with ONE 165 on January 28, which will be headlined by the kickboxing super-fight between longtime ONE flyweight Muay Thai world champion Rodtang and kickboxing superstar Tajeru Segawa.
Qatar, meanwhile, will play host to ONE 166 on March 1 at the Lusail Sports Arena, which will feature the title rematch between ONE strawweight MMA world champion Jarred Brooks and former division king Joshua Pacio.
