Joshua Pacio has new idea for four-round mixed rules fights
ONE strawweight Joshua Pacio has an exciting idea to add to the concept of mixed rules fights. After seeing Demetrious Johnson versus Rodtang Jitmuangnon at ONE Championship’s ONE: X fight card in March, Pacio would like to see even more superfights added in the future.
Rodtang and Johnson was scheduled as a four-round flyweight fight which alternated between ONE Super Series Muay Thai rules and ONE’s global ruleset for mixed martial arts. Johnson survived Rodtang’s standup striking in round one and was able to submit the Muay Thai artist by way of rear-naked choke in round two.
“Maybe we can change it up to, round one [for] pure striking, round two [for] pure grappling, round three for wrestling and then the fourth will be MMA,” the Pacio told The Jakarta Post.
“I feel I want to try that, and not only me, [some of my teammates] Lito Adiwang and Danny Kingad would also want to try that.”
As to who Pacio would like to give this his mixed rules fights concept a try against first, the champion already has a name in mind. None other than Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson.
“For me, I really want to grapple with DJ, maybe we can do a submission grappling [match]. I want to test myself against him in a straight 12-minute grappling match. I think that would be a memorable 12 minutes of my life,” the ONE Championship strawweight king said.
“I’ll prepare for [the match], and make sure that it won’t be a walk in the park for him, and I’m excited to showcase my grappling against him. At the same time, I’ll also learn a lot from the GOAT [greatest of all time.]”
