ONE Chairman blasts result of Pacio vs. Saruta

MANILA - ONE Championship chairman Chatri Sityodtong didn't mince words when he expressed his disappointment at the scorecards of the recent outing between Joshua Pacio and Yosuke Saruta.

Pacio yielded his ONE strawweight world title to Saruta this past Saturday by split decision in a fight that saw the Filipino outlanding his counterpart in the striking department.

The fight ultimately ended by split decision in favor of Saruta, and Sityodtong was equally shocked together with many fans who saw the fight with their own two eyes.

"My personal opinion, as a life-long martial artist, I think Joshua Pacio won the fight. I was very disappointed," said Sityodtong.

"In our rule set, there’s a very big difference between our rule set and the unified rule set. The unified rule set is, it’s a game.

"The last 30 seconds, I take you down, I win the round. If I do it enough times, I win the fight. But that’s not real martial arts, that’s just a game. Lay-and-pray is just a game."

Sityodtong further pointed out that the young fighter from Team Lakay landed the cleaner and harder shots during the fight. And while he respected the outcome of the contest, the ONE big boss said that a rematch should have to take place to between the two.

"In my opinion Joshua Pacio won because he won the exchanges, he landed the harder shots. Yes he was taken down but Saruta did nothing," told Sityodtong.

"But then again I will tell you this; the judges and referees in ONE Championship are the best in the world. Seven years, thousands of fights, they hardly make any error.

"I can't say if they made an error or not, just for me and my perspective I thought Joshua won. So yes there will be a rematch." — DVM, GMA News