This day in ONE Championship history: ONE: Roots of Honor took place

On this day in ONE Championship history, on April 12, 2019, ONE: Roots of Honor was broadcast live from Manila, Philippines. The event featured champions as well as future contenders.

The headlining fight was for the ONE featherweight championship. The reigning champion 'The Situ-Asian' Martin Nguyen dominantly defended his title against the Mongolian-born fighter 'Tungaa' Narantungalag Jadamba.

'Tungaa' was a former featherweight champion and had been putting together a win streak in ONE Championship before this match. He lost via TKO, officially, by way of leg kick and flying knee. He called it a career at ONE Roots of Honor on April 12, 2019.

Nguyen already held double-champion status by this point and was well established to be a sample of the organization. After this main event victory, he defended his title again the same year against Koyomi Matsushima, before losing it to Thanh Le. Le is still the reigning champion to this day.

Joshua Pacio, of the Philippines, earned his crowning achievement this day. The hometown hero defeated Yosuke Saruta via TKO to win the strawweight championship. This victory also avenged a previous loss Pacio had to Saruta. They were now tied 1-1 in the series.

ONE: Roots of Honor started Pacio's reigno. He still holds his title to this day and has added three title defenses to his name. His opponent, former champion Saruta, earned his way back into title contention and lost the overall trilogy to Pacio.

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ONE: Roots of Honor building prospects

Aside from title fights, the April 12 event had many important moments in terms of building talent and building future contenders.

Gustavo Balart, of Cuba, took a loss at this event to Tatsumitsu Wada. Wada would then face Demetrious Johnson in his next bout. Balart is fighting to get into title contention and is scheduled to face the former champion Saruta on April 22 of this year.

With his victory at this event Andrei Stoica would go on to win two more fights and then get a title shot. Reigning kickboxing champion Roman Kryklya defeated the contender via decision, ending the win streak. James Nakashima would take a victory here, then follow it up by defeating Yushin Okami before getting a title shot. Defending champion Kiamrian Abbasov defeated Nakashima and is still champion today.

Always-game fighters who are still actively competing in ONE Championship also gained victories at this event including women's atomweight Bi Nguyen, Brazilian kickboxer Anderson Silva, South Korea's Won Il Kwon, among others.

It was an impressive day for ONE Championship. Hosted in beautiful Manila, Philippines, the April 12, 2019 event ONE: Roots of Honor was one to remember.