THREE Team Lakay fighters gets their campaign going in 2018 as they see action in Asia’s largest mixed martial arts promotion in January.
Geje Eustaquio, Joshua Pacio and Edward Kelly returns to action on January 26 as ONE Championship brings another world class MMA acts at the Mall of Asia Arena dubbed ‘Global Superheroes’.
While ONE has yet to confirm their opponents, the trio have already been in the thick of preparation as early as December in the hopes of starting another winning run for the country’s top MMA camp.
“We hope to start the New Year with a bang. Maganda kung maka umpisa ulit tayo ng panalo para ma – inspire yung mga teammates nila,” said coach Mark Sangiao.
Eustaquio and Kelly are coming off a sorry loss in their last outing earlier this year.
A former world title contender, Eustaquio fell to former world flyweight champion Kairat Akhmetov with a closely-contested split decision victory on September in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Akhmetov showcased his overwhelming Greco Roman wrestling chops to consistently bring Eustaquio to the canvas, controlling the action on the ground. Eustaquio would land his usual crisp, clean combinations throughout the contest, but it wasn’t enough to earn him the win as Akhmetov’s grappling proved too much to overcome.
But Eustaquio said he has moved on since that sorry loss and vows to come out better on January 26.
“We train harder. Learned from that experience and time for me to move on,” said Eustaquio.
Kelly is also hoping to return to the win column after being edged by Emilio Urrutia in their three-round featherweight encounter in August held at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Urrutia relied on his solid ground game to pacify his Filipino opponent’s firepower in the stand-up trade, wearing down Kelly and steering him to a decisive victory by way of unanimous decision.
Pacio is fresh from a first round knockout victory in November 10 at the MOA Arena.
The 21 – year – old strawweight emerged victorious against veteran martial artist Roy Doliguez by notching a highlight-reel knockout in the second round.
The young Team Lakay standout exhibited stellar form from the get-go, wearing down his fellow Filipino opponent with impeccable grappling and heavy high kicks.
Hungry to place himself back on the winning track, Pacio put the finishing touches in the second frame, where he unleashed a well-timed spinning back-fist that sent Doliguez crashing down to the canvas.
