ONE strawweight champion Joshua Pacio has a new challenger for his first title defense at ONE Championship: Eternal Glory in January.
ONE Championship’s first card of 2019, Eternal Glory, has undergone a main event shake-up. On Tuesday, the promotion announced that Yosuke Saruta would step in on four week’s notice to face Joshua Pacio atop the card. Pacio, who recently claimed the ONE strawweight title, had been set to face Hayato Suzuki at the event. While a ONE press release did not specify the reason Suzuki dropped off the card, it appears an injury is the culprit.
Saruta (18-8-3) defeated Alex Silva earlier this month at Destiny of Champions in his promotional debut for ONE Championship. He’s 9-1 in his last ten, with the other wins coming under the Shooto banner. There, he served as Shoot’s strawweight champion.
Also added to the ONE Championship: Eternal Glory card, featherweights Christian Lee and Edward Kelly. The pair previously met at ONE’s September event Beyond the Horizon, where Lee (10-3) took a DQ loss due to an illegal suplex. He bounced back at Heart of the Lion in November, defeating Kazuki Tokudome by TKO.
Kelly (11-5) has not competed since the first Lee fight in September.
ONE Championship: Eternal Glory takes place at the Istora Senayan in Jakarta, Indonesia on January 19, 2019.
