“Describe beauty and pain” - Fans wax poetic in Joshua Pacio’s vengeful one-shot knockout of Yosuke Saruta in Manila

ONE Championship shared the footage of former strawweight MMA world champion Joshua Pacio’s knockout win against Yosuke Saruta.

In September 2021, Pacio hoped to start his second world title reign when he matched up against Saruta for the second time. Their April 2019 encounter was a quick turnaround following a controversial split decision that saw Saruta capture the ONE strawweight MMA world title in January 2019.

Unfortunately for Saruta, Pacio wouldn’t be denied in their second meeting at ONE: Roots of Honor in Manila. In round 4, ‘The Passion’ landed a devastating head kick to instantly end the fight and regain his strawweight MMA throne.

Over two years later, ONE re-posted the highlight-reel knockout on Instagram with the following caption:

“Good night 💤 Will Joshua Pacio reclaim the ONE Strawweight MMA World Title in his rematch with Jarred Brooks at ONE 166: Qatar? 🇶🇦 @joshuapacio”

Fans praised Pacio in the Instagram comment section for his impressive performance:

“Describe beauty and pain.. That's it.”

“Poetry in motion 👌"

“That was MMA K.O. of that year!!Let’s Gooooo! 🇵🇭❤️‍🔥🦁”

“Night night"

“Good fight, 2 good fighters, ❤️❤️❤️”

“Margins for error are so thin”

Instagram comments

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What’s next for Joshua Pacio?

Following his second win against Yosuke Sarata in their trilogy bout at ONE: Revolution, Joshua Pacio was dethroned of ONE gold due to a unanimous decision loss against Jarred Brooks. Pacio didn’t give up following the disappointing defeat, leading to a bounce-back win against Mansur Malachiev in October 2023.

On March 1, Pacio plans to avenge his loss against Brooks and regain the strawweight MMA throne when they meet for a rematch in the ONE 166: Qatar co-main event. It’ll be easier said than done, as ‘The Monkey God’ has established a 4-0 promotional MMA record since making his promotional debut in November 2021.

ONE 166 will take place inside the Lusail Sports Arena in Lusail, Qatar. Check local listings to figure out where to watch the stacked event.