ONE Strawweight MMA World Champion Joshua Pacio is currently sidelined with an injury, but he’s keeping his eyes peeled on what’s going on in his division.

At ONE Fight Night 23: Ok vs. Rasulov this Friday, July 5, two fiery competitors are set to collide when #4-ranked contender Hiroba Minowa takes on Filipino powerhouse Jeremy Miado in a strawweight MMA battle inside the iconic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.

Joshua Pacio anticipates a firefight between Miado and Minowa

With their respective runs of success and struggle, Joshua Pacio is expecting a firefight to go down when Minowa and Miado meet at the thrilling show. “Both fighters face significant challenges going into this bout. Driven by their hunger for victory, I anticipate a showdown where they put everything on the line,” he said.

He further added, “Given the division’s current developments, it’s either a sprint to the top or a fierce battle to hold onto their positions in the rankings.” Miado was riding high on a four-fight win streak that saw him score wins over noteworthy opponents and reach the fifth spot in the divisional rankings in October 2022.

Unfortunately, he has fallen into a skid of losses in his last three outings, with the most recent coming against Japan’s Keito Yamakita at ONE 166 last March. Meanwhile, Minowa came out of the gates with fire on his ONE debut in 2020, and he put together back-to-back wins against Lito Adiwang and Alex Silva in his first six months. However, the Japanese star’s luck ran out when he fell to Jarred Brooks at ONE: ONLY THE BRAVE in January 2022, and he’s been on the wrong end of the judges’ call twice since then.

The Strawweight division is moving up

Though Pacio is laid up, the stacked strawweight MMA division is still moving. Along with Miado and Minowa’s meeting at ONE Fight Night 23, the ONE Interim Strawweight MMA World Title will be on the line next month when Brooks faces Gustavo Balart in the main event of ONE Fight Night 24.

While he surely has an opinion on that battle, the Filipino superstar has his eyes firmly set on this weekend for now, and he offered his thoughts on who he thinks will win.

“Of course, I’m rooting for Jeremy Miado. But, objectively speaking, the fighter who strategically deploys their best weapons first is likely to win the match,” Pacio said.