Former ONE Strawweight World Champion Joshua “The Passion” Pacio and Danny “The King” Kingad might be training on separate teams now, but they remain good friends who can’t wait for this weekend’s historic ONE Fight Night 10.
Pacio and Kingad both see the main event trilogy bout between ONE Flyweight World Champion Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson and Adriano “Mikinho” Moraes in favor of the American.
Johnson and Moraes will duke it out in the headliner of ONE Championship’s groundbreaking debut in the United States this Saturday, 6 May, at the sold-out 1stBank Center.
Pacio, who will fly out to Colorado to witness the historic show in person, expects a tightly contested match between the two, but ultimately he’s siding with Johnson.
“It’s really hard to predict the winner. We already saw Demetrious Johnson have trouble with Adriano Moraes’ height. At the same time, though, we saw in the second fight that [Johnson’s] strategy was absolutely perfect,” Pacio said.
“I’m going to go with Demetrious Johnson.”
Kingad echoed Pacio’s statements, saying that this fight will be closer than what fans think.
He’s also the perfect person to talk about the fight, considering that he’s shared the Circle with both men.
“This will be great. They have been both on the top of their games for the longest time, so this is a tough call,” Kingad said.
“They have knockout wins over each other, both came from knee [knockouts], and it’s so unpredictable. This is MMA, gloves are smaller, so it all depends on who takes advantage of the opening first.”
At the end of the day, Kingad agreed with his good friend’s prediction, as he also sees Johnson retaining the belt.
“If I’m to be asked, I’m still siding with Demetrious Johnson. He’s got skills. He’s got experience. Plus, I’d love to meet Demetrious Johnson again. He’s got a big name, and I would love to run it back with him,” he said.
“I think Demetrious stops him in the second round of this match. That’s my prediction, but I’m not 100 percent sure of that because Moraes is really strong.”