Joshua Pacio to face unbeaten wrestler Mansur Malachiev at ONE Fight Night 15

Former ONE strawweight world champion Joshua Pacio will fight for the first time since losing his title when he takes on Mansur Malachiev at ONE Fight Night 15 October 7 at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.

Pacio, 19-4 as a mixed martial artist, is looking to showcase his improved ground game having trained in the USA earlier this year before moving to Lions Nation MMA, which houses Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Gibran Langbayan.

“I am more confident with my ground game now. Now I know what to do in certain situations and I can say that I can compete in the grappling game,” said Pacio.

His foe, however, would not be a walk in the park. Boasting a perfect record of 11-0, Malachiev got his wrestling pedigree from Dagestan, which produced the likes of Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev.

Malachiev made his ONE Championship debut last June where he submitted Filipino striker Jeremy Miado in the opening round.

—JMB, GMA Integrated News