ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider Pacio out to break Team Lakay's 'trilogy curse'

Pacio out to break Team Lakay's 'trilogy curse'

Published Sep 20, 2021 03:54 pm

Team Lakay is no stranger to engaging with trilogies in the Circle.

Joshua Pacio (left) and Yosuke Saruta on clinch during their rematch in this file photo (ONE Championship)

And Joshua Pacio, the ONE strawweight champion, is determined to break the "trilogy curse" when he takes on Japanese rival and No. 1 contender Yosuke Saruta in ONE: Revolution on Friday, Sept. 24 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

As much as he doesn't believe in such situations, the 25-year-old Team Lakay stalwart will see to it that there's no such thing as trilogy curse and whatnots.

"Para sa akin hindi ako naniniwala sa mga ganon, basta I'm confident, 100 percent na ready tayo physically, spiritually, and lahat na 100 percent ready (I don't believe in such thing but I'm confident, a hundred percent ready)," said Pacio, who holds a 19-3 record. "Hindi ko iniisip 'yon 'yong mga sinasabi nila pag trilogies parang doon tayo nadadale (I don't think about it that much. Many were saying that trilogies pose a threat to us).

"I'm ready din to break 'yong sinasabi nilang ganon pero wala, hindi tayo naniniwala doon (In any case, I'm ready to break that curse but still I don't believe in such things)," added the reigning strawweight champion.

In recent history, Team Lakay fighters were pitted against their respective rivals in third and decisive fights.

Former lightweight champion Eduard Folayang lost to Japanese icon Shinya Aoki, former bantamweight titleholder Kevin Belingon yielded to current titlist Bibiano Fernandes of Brazil, and Geje Eustaquio suffered defeat at the hands of Adriano Moraes in their trilogies.

Team Lakay coach Mark Sangiao, for his part, stressed that they have been studying and looking at their points to improve and keep their focus intact without much thinking on the situation they were put in.

"When it comes to curse, hindi tayo naniniwala doon (When it comes to curse, I don't believe as well)," said Sangiao. "As long as we did our part, win or lose, kung nanalo tayo 'yon 'yong mga pinaghirapan ng mga atleta natin (As long as we did our part, win or lose, and if we win, that's the result of our athletes' hard work)."

The trilogy against Saruta will mark Pacio's third straight title defense since defending the strawweight belt against the likes of compatriot Rene Catalan and former world champion Alex Silva of Brazil.

Meanwhile, Saruta, 34, rides on a two-match win streak coming from Daichi Kitakata in October 2019 and division No. 2 Yoshitaka Naito in September last year to improve at 21-9-3 win-loss-draw card.

Related Tags

ONE: Revolution Yosuke Saruta Team Lakay Joshua Pacio ONE Championship
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.