“We’re cool with each other” - Lito Adiwang says his bond with former teammate Joshua Pacio remains strong

Though they are no longer teammates, Lito Adiwang says he's still close with undisputed ONE strawweight MMA world champion Joshua Pacio.

After training alongside one another under the Team Lakay banner, the duo went their separate ways with Adiwang landing at the Bali-based Soma Fight Club while Pacio joined many of his Team Lakay brethren at Lions Nation MMA.

But despite their separation, Adiwang insists that their friendship is unchanged.

"No, especially on my side," Adiwang told Sportskeeda MMA when asked about any potential friction between the two. "We do communicate and we’re cool with each other, so there’s no issue there."

Both fighters walked away from Team Lakay to pursue other avenues to grow as fighters.

Thus far, the move has seemingly worked out well for both of them. Pacio is once again a ONE world champion, while Adiwang has won three in a row after a lackluster 2-3 run that saw him finish in back-to-back bouts against Jarred Brooks and Jeremy Miado.

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Lito Adiwang would rather fight Jarred Brooks than Joshua Pacio in potential title tilt

With Lito Adiwang sitting on a solid win streak in the strawweight division, he could very well be one big win away from a shot at 26 pounds of ONE Championship gold.

However, Adiwang isn't exactly keen on facing his countryman and former teammate. If allowed to choose, he'd much rather step back inside the Circle with current interim ONE strawweight MMA world champion Jarred Brooks.

"I prefer to face him [Brooks] eventually instead of Joshua. But let's see, let's see the future decide. Another thing why I want to fight Jarred is that Filipinos don't want to see two countrymen fight each other."

Brooks won the interim belt at ONE Fight Night 24 via a first-round submission victory over Gustavo Balart.

Once Joshua Pacio recovers from an ACL injury he sustained in his brief encounter with 'The Monkey God' at ONE 166: Qatar, the two will likely settle things in a trilogy fight to unify their belts.

Until then, Lito Adiwang will be waiting.